Local elected officials refuse the 5 billion euro effort requested of them by the government

2024-10-08 17:06:33

Catherine Vautrin, Minister of Partnership with Territories and Decentralisation, arrives at the Elysée during the first council of ministers of the Barnier government, in Paris, on 23 September 2024. ” sizes=”(min-width: 1024px) 556px, 100vw” width=”664″ height=”443″/> Catherine Vautrin, Minister of Partnership with Territories and Decentralisation, arrives at the Elysée during the first council of ministers of the Barnier government, in Paris, on 23 September 2024. JULIEN MUGUET FOR “THE WORLD”

“Very courteous”they say from the government side. “Always courteous”Moreover “tense” et “very lively”we qualify ourselves on the side of the mayors. While Prime Minister Michel Barnier has been trying to establish a climate of trust between the state and local authorities for a month, exchanges are worsening because they are becoming more difficult. The government promises 60 billion euros in savings in 2025, of which 40 billion in spending cuts, of which 5 will be requested from municipalities, departments and regions. The State will assume 20 billion; Social Security, 15 billion.

Read the analysis | Article reserved for our subscribers Budget: The “effort” will be based primarily on tax increases

Add to your selections

This is what the minister responsible for the Budget, Laurent Saint-Martin, and the minister for Partnership with the Territories, Catherine Vautrin, said on Tuesday 8 October before the Local Finance Committee (CFL), the body that defends the interests of the communities. “We do not accept any of the measures proposed to us”warns the president of the CFL, André Laignel. Also vice-president of the Association of Mayors of France (AMF), he promises to launch “the parliamentary battle”. And, in fact, it is in Parliament that the 2025 budget will be decided.

After the incendiary statements at the beginning of September by former ministers Bruno Le Maire (Economy) and Thomas Cazenave (Public Accounts), who attributed the country’s financial suffering to a slippage of 16 billion euros in community spending, the Barnier government is trying to put the pieces together together again. Ms. Vautrin also distanced herself from her former colleagues: “I don’t want to hear anymore” of 16 billion euros, he protested in a interview with Western FranceOctober 5.

2% of the community budget

However, local authorities will participate in the collective effort to get the country out of the budgetary rut with a sum of 5 billion euros, or 12.5% ​​of the effort, while municipalities represent 20% of the government’s public budget spending. . These 5 billion represent 2% of the community budget (236 billion).

Three “mechanisms” were presented to elected officials Tuesday. The 450 largest communities in the country will first have to comply “in reserve” 2.8 billion euros. Forced saving of the richest, the purpose of which is to “limit local spending”. Already twenty departments, whose financial situation is considered worrying, will be spared: Nord, Pas-de-Calais, Seine-Saint-Denis, Aisne, Ardenne or Ariège, but also overseas. The government promises that this money will be returned. When? How? To whom? Mystery. The debate is not resolved. These 2.8 billion could constitute a new allocation divided among the communities that need it most, and this in a more or less short time, depending on whether the required effort is completed.