Public audiovisual: the deputies vote in first reading the abolition of the license fee


The vote was won by 170 votes to 57, during the first reading of the amending finance bill for 2022.

The deputies validated Saturday, July 23 in the morning the abolition of the fee which finances public broadcasting, as part of the measures to support purchasing power. The vote was won by 170 votes to 57 – mainly from the left – during the first reading of the amending finance bill for 2022.

Amendments from the majority and LR were adopted to affect public broadcasting “a fractionof VAT, for an amount of approximately 3.7 billion euros, in order to respond to concerns about its financing. During this often turbulent session, the Minister in charge of Public Accounts Gabriel Attal expressed his attachment to “strong public broadcasting“, while qualifying the current royalty”obsolete tool“. “We assume to remove taxes that weigh on the French“, he continued.

The main objections came from the ranks of the leftist alliance Nupes, where many speakers notably highlighted the risks for the independence of the public service. For Inaki Echeniz (PS), this deletion is a “bad idea“, while Alexis Corbière (LFI) underlined that guaranteeing “the independence of public broadcasting is a condition of democracy“.

The RN, for its part, called for going further than the abolition of the fee, by privatizing public broadcasting. “A great democracy like ours no longer needs a public service“said Caroline Parmentier. Culture Minister Rima Abdul Malak argued that “it is not the fee that guarantees independenceBut Arcom (ex-CSA), the body that appoints the leaders of public broadcasting companies.


SEE ALSO – End of the fee: on strike, the employees of the public audiovisual sector demonstrate in Paris



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