“Trouble”, “misunderstanding”, “unilateral decisions”: associations of elected officials expressed their concern on Friday after Bruno Le Maire’s statements on the reduction in operating expenses for communities.
The Minister of the Economy revealed to the press on Thursday forecasts of a 0.5% drop in the operating expenses of local authorities, contained in the stability program that the executive sends to the European Commission for the period 2022-2027 .
We reaffirm France’s budgetary seriousness. We are committed to reducing the public debt from 2025. We are back below 3% deficit in 2027, as Mr. Le Maire has to say to justify this reduction.
The Association of Mayors of France (AMF) expressed in a press release its incomprehension of these announcements which contradict the remarks of the ministers in charge of communities Christophe Bchu and Caroline Cayeux.
The Minister of Ecological Transition and Territorial Cohesion Christophe Bchu had indeed affirmed on Tuesday several associations of elected officials that the effort to reduce the budget of 10 billion euros planned by Emmanuel Macron was obsolete.
This announcement is all the more incoherent as the amount of the levy of 0.5% on the operating expenses of the communities is much higher than the puncture initially envisaged of 10 billion euros, notes the AMF.
Expressing its deep astonishment, the Association of Small Towns of France (APVF) underlined in a press release that local authorities assume nearly 70% of public investment and are an essential engine for supporting economic growth.
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Local authorities are in no way a variable for adjusting the state budget, adds the APVF.
Through its president Franois Sauvadet, the Assembly of Departments of France (AdF) criticizes unilateral decisions and contradictory injunctions from the government.
The AdF also calls for major consultation between local authorities and the government upstream of the 2023 finance bill.