Monaco’s National Council passed a package of significant legislation at its public session on the evening of Wednesday, June 10, covering disability rights, support for family carers, housing finance and criminal justice reform.
The government’s bill on the proche aidant creates for the first time a formal legal status for those who provide unpaid support to a dependent person, with a set of rights designed to help carers maintain a balance between their personal and professional lives. The legislation is intended as a stepping stone toward a further reform — a relayage scheme providing structured periods of respite — which the government confirmed would be brought before the National Council shortly. The bills were presented against the backdrop of Monaco’s record life expectancy of 87 years on average, the highest in the world according to IMSEE figures published in March 2025.
A separate bill amended the Principality’s 2014 framework law on the rights of disabled persons. Partial public funding of disability compensation plans will be extended to individuals previously excluded, the automatic reclassification of disabled persons into the elderly category at age 60 will be abolished in favour of individual assessments, and a new allowance will be created for parents forced to leave employment to care for a disabled child, including government pension contributions on their behalf to prevent long-term career penalties.
Finance Minister Frédéric Cottalorda told the council that the government had decided not to proceed with a National Council proposal — adopted in November 2025 — that would have removed the one-point margin applied to the 12-month Euribor rate in the state’s Habitation-Capitalisation housing contracts. The government’s objection was financial, citing the structural risk of tying long-term state loans to a variable rate in the event of a prolonged rise in interest rates. The government nonetheless committed to bringing forward its own bill before the end of the autumn session, proposing a fixed-rate mechanism with provision for renegotiation if rates fall significantly.
Finally, the Minister of State presented a bill introducing two new criminal procedures: the plaider coupable, a guilty plea mechanism for natural persons, and the convention pénale, applicable to both legal entities and their representatives. The reform forms part of Monaco’s ongoing effort to meet FATF international standards on combating money laundering and terrorist financing. The Minister stressed that the new procedures were not designed to create expedited or negotiated justice, but to allow faster responses in cases where facts are admitted, while fully preserving defendants’ rights, victims’ rights and judicial oversight.