Following a December 15 tribune by leading artists, Senator Monique de Marco presented a bill to the Senate on December 18 to extend unemployment insurance to artist-authors excluded from the performing arts intermittent regime. Inspired by systems in Belgium and Ireland, it responds to a 2023 European Parliament recommendation for artists' social protections.
Senator Monique de Marco, vice-president of the Senate's culture committee and an ecologist from Gironde, introduced the bill three days after prominent creators like Pénélope Bagieu and Mona Chollet published a tribune in Le Monde urging such action.
The measure targets artist-authors—writers, translators, screenwriters, visual artists, photographers, curators, and critics—who fuel key cultural sectors but receive income only from work exploitation, not research and creation phases.
It seeks to align France with the EU Parliament's 2023 call for artists to access minimum wage, paid leave, and unemployment benefits. Belgium and Ireland already provide similar support, bolstering creators' stability.
This development signals potential progress in addressing social protection gaps for these precarious professions amid ongoing advocacy.
