Proposition 50K0114

Projet de loi modifiant la loi du 8 juillet 1976 organique des centres publics d'aide sociale en vue de modifier la dénomination des centres publics d'aide sociale.

General information ¶

Author

PS | SP Colette Burgeon

Submission date

Oct. 4, 1999

Official page

Visit

Status

Adopted

Requirement

Simple

Subjects

welfare

Voting ¶

Voted to adopt

Groen Ecolo LE PS | SP Open Vld N-VA MR

Abstained from voting

CD&V FN VB

Party dissidents ¶

• Karel Pinxten (Open Vld) abstained from voting.

Contact form ¶

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Discussion ¶

July 6, 2000 | Plenary session (Chamber of representatives)

Full source

I am referring to my written report.

Mr. Speaker, Mr. Minister, Dear Colleagues, for more than twenty years and despite the weakness of the resources available to cope with the crisis, the CPAS have been able to demonstrate the dynamism and creativity necessary to make themselves known and recognized as institutions guaranteeing collective solidarity for the benefit of the most deprived. That is why, since 1997, I have responded favorably to a request from the Conference of Presidents of the CPAS of the Liege Agglomeration and of Verviers, a request relayed by the Wallon Minister of Social Action of the time, Mr. Verviers. Willy was injured. In this case, it was a proposal to change the name of the public centers of social assistance into public centers of social action. This is a symbolic but important change. Indeed, beyond the tasks imposed on them by the legislator and without disarming in the face of the explosion and the exponential growth of the number of aid applications registered in recent years, the CPAS have resolutely opted for a voluntary policy, favoring integration and insertion both social and professional rather than confining themselves in a mere passive role of social aid distributors. In this perspective, it also seemed to me that the word social action better reflects the reality and gives local public institutions a recognition of the dynamic action played by the CPAS in the fight against social exclusion and for the reintegration of persons in difficulty. It is also undeniable that this bill is part of the current philosophy of the active social state and allows to create a climate, an atmosphere and a framework favorable to this new development. For all these reasons, I would like to thank all the colleagues who supported this proposal. A very symbolic proposal that was adopted by a large majority in the Public Health Committee since our Dutch-speaking colleagues have very well emphasized, opposing the suggestion of the State Council, that the current Dutch name is already different from the French version because the terms maatschappelijk welzijn cover a broader, more positive concept than the words social aid to the more pastist and charitable relents. Of course, a two-year transition period is provided for in the law so that the change is made harmoniously in relation to possible technical difficulties of application or in relation to the costs incurred by the communities to change their signage. Finally, I recall that the State Council has confirmed that the matter regulated in the proposal falls within the federal competence. On the other hand, it will now be up to the communities and regions, within their sphere of competence, to adapt, if necessary, the provisions stating a public centre of social assistance to the modified federal terminology.

Mr. Speaker, Mr. Minister, dear colleagues, Mr. Burgeon’s proposal is, in my opinion, less anodine than it might seem to the first leader. Semantics is important because it clearly marks an evolution that is essential for the functioning of our society. The current name of the CPAS comes from the former regime where there was a question of public assembly commissions that had the same mission. In terms of public assistance, as in other words in the organization of CAPs, we find this charitable, somewhat paternalistic will of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and that distance that was created between the public authorities who participated in a mission of assistance. The designation of public centres of social assistance, the terms social aid being taken in their French acceptance, marked an evolution and insisted on the notion of aid that replaced assistance. It was already a very important evolution for society. Twenty years later, it can be said that the CPAS, facing major social crises and a deterioration of the social bond, have actually fulfilled their role of aid. To move from social assistance to social action is to move from a will to be to a will to act – I am only taking the terms of the proposal – that is, to make it one of the important elements of municipal policy, since social action thus becomes a political act of the approach practiced by the communes. Although the weight of words is also important, it is necessary to gradually draw the consequences. Just like Mr. Vande Lanotte, I think that a reflection should be engaged on this need to bring the approach closer, or even unify, at the level of the municipalities and to ensure a coherence of social practices, through the social affairs, the CPAS and the associative sector. After the municipal elections, it will be interesting to start this discussion without taboo and without the desire to over-protect particular situations and to reflect, at our level and within our limits of competence, on the necessary role of social coherence in action. If the local level is essential in our society, it is also because we are convinced that it has a capacity to act in the face of particular problems and difficulties of social connection. Through your proposal and the change of name that is essential, we will move towards a fundamental data, which will arouse a dynamic of common action that could – but it is too early to predict the outcome – result in a unity of action. That is why we will vote for this transformation without any reservation. However, we believe that after the municipal elections, it will be more than time to determine how a policy of social action can actually be carried out in the interest of our population.