There are about 8,200 of them, including 1,200 children, but they have never been surveyed. However, the French and Belgian Courts of Auditors, linked by a cooperation agreement signed in 2023, have finally studied the situation of French people with disabilities accommodated in Wallonia. And the conditions of this reception, jointly financed by the Health Insurance and the departmental councils with about 500 million euros, raise many questions.
The reports, partly joint, published on Tuesday 17 September, mention in particular abuses and shortcomings, sometimes serious, in around sixty reception centres. They have revealed the existence, since 2015, of physical or verbal violence, medical neglect, food deprivation as punishment, etc. But also the danger to residents due to lack of surveillance or even “failures in care that could lead to death”. As regards the delays between the detection of an infringement and the application of a sanction, “can last more than two years”criticises the joint report.
The quality controls of care in these institutions, which employ a total of around 5,000 workers, are considered to be very inadequate. A Franco-Belgian control system has been set up, but the application of its criteria “could not be verified”, analyzes the joint report. He adds: “The exact number of audits carried out annually and the working time devoted to them cannot be determined with precision. » Two doctors were planned for the control team, but now there is only one and “No procedure governs its activity”.
Lack of “effective management”
From a financial point of view, the Walloon Agency for Quality of Life (AVIQ), responsible for disability and health, only controls regional subsidies in Wallonia. This has sometimes given rise to suspicions of misappropriation of funds, the French report notes. The French authorities, for their part, do not exercise “uncontrolled” of the subsidies they grant. It is enough to think that questionable practices may persist, or that sometimes the money is spent for purposes other than those for which it was granted. “The risk of unjust enrichment cannot be ruled out”, The French court considers that it evokes “abnormalities”such as the payment of dividends to the managers of the centres, very high salaries and complex financial arrangements.
An old phenomenon, linked to geographical and linguistic proximity, the reception of French people with disabilities in Wallonia experienced a strong expansion between 2009 and 2017. It was governed by an agreement signed between the regional government and the French government in 2011. A text which notably provided for an offer “waterproof” : a Walloon user cannot, in principle, claim a place financed by France, and vice versa. In 2021, Paris also decreed a moratorium to try to limit the cost of such accommodation and to organise a local response by mobilising the regional health agencies of Grand Est, Hauts-de-France and Île-de-France.
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