Interview with Dominique Libault

What are the strengths of Social Security Directorate (DSS) in the area of social protection?

Compared with the other major developed countries, France is one of the most reputed in terms of its expertise on social protection. France’s history of social welfare, the broad panoply of protection it provides and above all its wide-ranging experience in this area, have all been factors allowing French experts to leverage their expertise abroad. In the web of expertise offered to our international partners, the Social Security Directorate (DSS) occupies a highly specific place – not one of setting up or running social welfare organisations (which is the domain of the French social protection bodies, who make a significant contribution in this area and should be commended for their efforts), but of developing and implementing policies on social welfare and health care. Indeed, France is recognised both for its know-how in specific branches of social security (and notably the collection of contributions and family policy) and for the assistance it can provide in organising and managing national systems (governance and system of national agreements for example).

Can you give some examples of the Directorate’s cooperation activities?

France is regularly solicited by the countries of North Africa and central and eastern Europe (EU countries and accession candidates) as well as the major emerging countries.

In Poland for example, the Directorate is coordinating a major cooperation programme on pharmaceutical policy. The aim of the 16-month programme is to help the Polish authorities set up institutions capable of implementing a modern drugs policy addressing both the health and drug industry aspects.

Along with ADECRI and the British authorities, the Directorate has also participated recently in a cooperation programme to train Chinese social protection managers.

We are also providing assistance to Romania in its preparations for EU membership. We send experts to Romanian institutions to help them prepare for membership and implement EU standards, focusing particularly on the coordination of the different schemes through actions such as training of trainers and preparation of directives.

What are your expectations of GIP SPSI?

French cooperation on health and social protection policies did indeed exist prior to the creation of the GIP. With the multitude of players involved however, France’s offering was fragmented and lacked a distinctive voice in the international arena. That affected its ability to anticipate and respond to requests for cooperation. The GIP was born out of the conviction – based on the lessons learned from several years of cooperation activities - that the sum of the various competencies of French cooperation actors was not sufficient to create a single, cohesive cooperation offering, i.e. a unified French policy on international assistance and advisory services.

GIP SPSI was thus established in response to a need: that of making available to our foreign partners, a central body to unify and coordinate the different cooperation offerings.

The GIP thus has various different functions. It has a role in monitoring the changing needs and expectations of our partners (both current and future) so that French cooperation actors can keep apace of those needs and adapt their offering accordingly. Secondly, it is central hub of information and coordination in the cooperation field, ensuring the flow of information between cooperation actors. Lastly, it is ideally placed to assess the effectiveness of French cooperation policies in the area of health and social protection.