The urgency was deemed strong enough for the President of the Republic to unblock two hours, on Monday, September 5, in order to receive the three leaders of the main associations of local elected officials. With success: Regions of France (chaired by the socialist Carole Delga), the Assembly of the Departments of France (chaired by François Sauvadet, from the Union of Democrats and Independents) and the Association of Mayors of France (David Lisnard, Les Republicans) obtained financial guarantees and the prospect of a new ” great law of decentralization ». They will therefore participate well in the National Council for Refoundation (CNR) that Emmanuel Macron is to launch on Thursday, September 8.
However, it was not won. On Friday September 2, the three associations announced in a joint press release that “the framework of the National Refoundation Council” proposed by the Head of State did not seem to them “not appropriate for discussing the issues” under the jurisdiction of the communities. This body, announced in June by Emmanuel Macron, before the legislative elections, is supposed to bring together all public actors around the major challenges of the future. The opposition, but also the president (Les Républicains) of the Senate, Gérard Larcher, warned that they would not participate in the exchanges of the CNR. And the local elected officials themselves considered that “it is through a dedicated and direct dialogue between the representatives of the communities, the executive and the Parliament” that these issues needed to be addressed.
“Explosion of solidarity spending”
Monday’s meeting was a game-changer. According to Francois Sauvadet, ” outstretched hand “ of local elected officials was “seized by the President of the Republic”. On at least two crucial points for local communities. First, financial resources. The energy crisis, like the local tax reforms – the contribution on the added value of companies will be abolished in the 2023 finance bill – is putting elected officials under pressure. The departments are faced in particular with “an explosion in solidarity spending”. “The President of the Republic has given us guaranteesconfides François Sauvadet. He told us that he wanted to guarantee and secure our resources. » However, he did not go into details: “We will continue to work with the Prime Minister”specifies the president of the Assembly of the departments of France.
Representatives of elected officials also reminded Emmanuel Macron of their “hostility to the Cahors contracts”who ” [les] put under guardianship”, laments François Sauvadet. These agreements signed between the State and two hundred and twenty-nine of the largest communities from 2018 aimed to limit their spending and achieve 2.6 billion euros in savings each year over the five-year period. .
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