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(Dear God, my husband’s been relocated to Alsace!)

by Laurence WINTER

The Little Book of Appropriate Behaviour, for the use of all new arrivals in Alsace, teaching them to avoid potential embarrassment or disappointment.

The most-read publication in Alsace. Think about it: finally a method to understand Alsatian and learn how to live amongst the Alsatians! Because everything is so complicated between the Vosges mountains and the Rhine (mentality, history, customs, the language) even the most fervent of the friends of Alsace are often forced to retire.

Now thanks to Laurence Winter and her chapters that are so clear and funny, subtle and well-documented, thanks to her practical advice, her exercises, and her references, you can finally avoid all those bloopers and incidents and, with a lot of perseverance, become “an Alsatian at heart and by adoption”, the biggest compliment you can receive in Alsace, this region that sometimes appears to be irritatingly elusive, but that also knows how to be really welcoming and generous.

Victim of its own success, it has also been adapted to the case of the region of Brittany by Patrick Denieul: “Ciel ! mon mari est muté en Bretagne” – “Dear God, My husband’s been relocated to Brittany” ( La Nuée Bleue / Le Télégramme).

In the framework of the changes come into effect in 2009 with respect to the 1% accommodation rules, it has become pertinent to modify the granting conditions and the general functioning of the Aide Mobili Pass® relocation subsidy.

This subsidy, counterbalancing the firms’ 1% accommodation contributions, could be transformed into a zero-interest rate loan repaid by the employees, reserved to those under 30 years of ages or be subject to other restrictions... In other words, it may become equivalent to being abolished.

The Aide Mobili Pass® relocation subsidy has been in existence for over 10 years and has been entirely satisfactory for both the businesses and its beneficiaries, the employees. It has facilitated the recruitment and relocation processes to such an extent that it has been included in the Relocation Clauses in most firms.

In 2009, 55 000 employees benefited from the Aide Mobili Pass® in order to get reimbursed for the services provided to them by the relocation companies, real estate agency fees and the expenses associated with double residency.

Over 20 000 employees had access to services provided by relocation companies financed by the Aide Mobili Pass®

Relocation companies have become a real asset when it comes to relocating staff and recruiting new hires on the national basis, owing to their professionalism when accommodating employees and their families in the most suitable and viable manner.

The risk, should the proposed changes come into effect, would be that the employees would no longer be able to benefit from such guidance provided by the relocation companies and would therefore find themselves at a deadlock when it comes to getting settled-in.

Our government’s genuine preoccupation is to encourage relocation in order to favour employment in every region and to facilitate the access to accommodation. Such decision would be contrary to the recommendations of the “Bouger pour l' emploi” report, written by Madam Deputy Claude GREFF at the request of François FILLON, the Prime Minister, in April 2009.

The national coverage and the competence of relocation companies, members of the SNPRM; are these not essential for the development of Threat to the future of MOBILI PASS®!

> See the SNPRM website for more details