2023-12-19 18:10:53
Published on Dec 19 2023 at 5:10 p.m.
The prospect of “real and bold decentralization” promised by Emmanuel Macron promises an avalanche of proposals and demands. Charged at the beginning of November by the Head of State with a six-month mission on the subject, the deputy for Oise Eric Woerth (Renaissance) raised some ideas on Monday afternoon.
“We just need powers to be properly shared and that when we exercise power, we can exercise it completely. This means that we regulate and that we have the means to finance it,” he insisted during the conference celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Régions de France association, at the Senate. “Can we go further in the coherent sharing of skills? Can’t we ask ourselves the question of each person’s role? », asked the parliamentarian.
Financial autonomy
The regions intend to seize the opportunity. As part of the Woerth mission, they will propose “to have missions which are clarified so that we can be understood by citizens and so that we can be more effective”, indicated Carole Delga, the socialist president of Régions de France and the Occitanie Regional Council.
Concerning support for the economy, “there are duplications, but duplications with the State. We must be fully in possession of this mission,” she insisted. Another necessity, according to her, is “a clarification of skills” on mobility. “We are also asking to be able to fully act on the question of orientation,” Carole Delga also argued.
“It is undoubtedly necessary to better exploit the possibility introduced in 2003 in the Constitution to designate local authorities as leaders on public policies,” suggested Yaël Braun-Pivet, the President (Renaissance) of the National Assembly. .
Financial and tax topics will obviously feature prominently in future discussions. “We must have financial autonomy and also, I think, fiscal autonomy,” reiterated Carole Delga. Eric Woerth mentioned a possible reflection to “better orchestrate the articulation between grants and taxation”.
National tax sharing
According to the former Minister of the Budget, it is also appropriate “to look a little more closely at the capacity to share national taxation”. Local authorities have already been allocated fractions of VAT, for example when the housing tax on main residences or the contribution on the added value of businesses was abolished. “But it’s done piecemeal,” observes Eric Woerth. “The taxes to be shared must be linked to your essential skills,” he also said.
It is difficult, however, according to him, to envisage “that we could recreate substitutes for the housing tax”. “I think that on local taxation we cannot have a complete step backwards,” reacted Pierre Moscovici, the first president of the Court of Auditors.
The Senate is also in the starting blocks after having already presented a report last July formulating 15 proposals to “restore local elected officials their power to act”. It will be translated into a bill “by February”, indicated Gérard Larcher, LR president of the Upper House. “Subsidiarity, experimentation, differentiation and financial and fiscal autonomy are at the heart of our proposals,” he recalled.
The government launched consultations on the decentralization of housing and housing policies at the beginning of December. A project devoted to the relationship between housing and territories must be submitted to Parliament next spring.
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