France announces $3.24b anti-poverty plan

PARIS - French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault on Tuesday unveiled an anti-poverty plan worth up to 2.5 billion euros (3.24 billion U.S. dollars) over next five years.

"Poverty is not a fatality, insecurity is not a scourge that is sweeping on a random a part of the population, it is not a mark of infamy," Ayrautl said.

"The insecurity is the result of economic and social process that we can fight as long and we are determined and if we estimated that every citizen has the right to a fair place in the society," he told the national conference against poverty.

Increasing Active Solidarity Income (RSA), guaranting resources for youth, offering emergency shelter, fight against over-indebtedness are main pillars of the Socialists' roadmap to fight against poverty that affects 8.5 million French people.

Official data showed that 2 million kids aged under 15 years suffer from poverty in the 65 million population where poverty line is set at 964 euros.

In this context, the government pledged to increase by 10 percent the RSA whose basic value stands at 475 euros over five years. The first rise was scheduled in September 2013.  (1 euro = 1.299 U.S. dollar).