ric Coquerel (LFI) accused the state on Wednesday of making motorway users pay for an increase in inflation, Bercy denying in return, explaining that it was currently in litigation, and that the minister was studying the possibility of shortening the duration of concessions .
I asked to be able to access, as chairman of the Finance Committee, the report of the General Inspectorate of Finance (IGF) on the economic model of motorway concession companies, wrote the elected LFI in a press release. He ensures that the text confirms a profitability (internal shareholder rate of return) of around 12%, effectively very superior the estimate of 7.67% that was made during the 2006 privatization.
If the shareholder flows could have been better anticipated (…) Vinci and Eiffage/Eiffarie, two of the main groups, would have had to pay the state several billion additional euros, estimates ric Coquerel, quoting the experts of the IGF .
Le Canard Enchan recently found this 2021 report, which would point to the profits made by the concession companies and would propose to reduce prices by 60% on almost two-thirds of the network. The satirical weekly accused the economy minister, Bruno Le Maire, of having stifled this report, which the government disputes.
This report also questions the choice made by the state to systematically compensate, via the increase in page rates, for the increase in the land use planning tax, indexed to inflation, that these companies pay, points out Eric Coquerel again. . The state therefore makes users pay for an increase in inflation which should be paid by these private groups, he said.
In response Bercy retorts that the government has certainly indexed this tax on inflation, but without the increase being passed on through the pages.
It is precisely the motorway companies that have sued the State to seek compensation via an increase in pages, argues Bercy, indicating that they are currently in litigation. The minister also claims to have won the first legal round, at the Administrative Court of Paris.
According to ric Coquerel, the report proposed three solutions: shorten the duration of the concession, reduce the pages or make a levy on the gross operating surplus of 2021.
The authors specified that only that consisting in shortening the duration of the concession seems legally possible, an adjustment (which) could be decided unilaterally by the State, condition of a strong political will, further criticized Mr. Coquerel.
The Minister for the Economy and the Minister for Transport, in accordance with the conclusions of the IGF report, are studying all the solutions to shorten the duration of motorway concessions. We are analyzing what is legally feasible in this area, Bercy told AFP on Wednesday.
Better late than never since until then this report, which dates from February 2021, had not led to a decision. I welcome it and I will obviously follow the progress of the file, reacted in the evening Eric Coquerel.
The government has justified the non-publication of this report because it serves to prepare and support its arguments in disputes with motorway companies.