Are benefits better in France than in the Scandinavian countries or places like Finland?
Unemployment benefits are surely the most generous in Belgium and France. Historically there was no limit on how long one could be on the dole. According to an
EU Commission report, now the limit is 10 years for Belgium, 9 years in France, Spain, Denmark and Finland, 5 years in Sweden, 4 years in Germany, 3 years in Italy and the Netherlands and 2 years in the UK.
The qualifying period for unemployment insurance is the shortest in France (20 weeks). It is one year in most EU countries, including Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK.
The maximum unemployment benefit is 6900€ per month in France, and the average amount being 1,111€ per month (
source). Even with no particular qualification or experience, a childless single person can receive 514€ per month, and a couple with two children 1,079€ (
source). Those figures are essentially the same for Belgium.
In contrast, in Sweden the maximum one can get is about 1,100€ per month, which is close to the average in France, or the minimum for a couple with two children.
In the UK, the maximum is about 450£, or about 500€ per month, less than half the French average.
In Germany, a childless single person would get 391€ per month, while a couple with two children would get about €850.
In Italy ,an unemployed worker can expect to be paid 75% of their monthly earnings up to a ceiling of 1,180 € per month (over 6 times less than the French maximum).
In Spain, the minimum benefit is 497 € per month and the maximum is 1087,20 € per month for a single person, but it depends on how long they have contributed to the system, while in France and Belgium it doesn't matter how long you contributed.
Additionally in Belgium and France at least, foreigners are eligible for unemployment benefits as long as they are legal residents (worth mentioning; there are limits to the generosity of the providence state).
In other words, an African immigrant who resides legally in France can claim about 1,100€ unemployment benefits for him and his family after being unemployed for only 4 months, and can continue to get this generous package for up to 9 years. Same in Belgium except they wait a bit longer but get one more year on the dole. In other words they get 120,000€/132,000€ free from the government, and they are not even French/Belgian! No wonder these countries are so popular with lazy immigrants. Add to that how easy it has been historically for anybody from a former French colony to get a visa for France (and oddly enough also Belgium) and you have a better picture of what Le Pen supporters are angry about, especially when these immigrants are Muslim and refuse to adapt to European lifestyle or to adopt European values.