The Constitutional Council validates the abolition of the audiovisual license fee


The measure promised by Emmanuel Macron during his re-election campaign will come into force “from this year”.

The decision has been taken: the Constitutional Council validates the abolition of the audiovisual license fee. In an opinion issued on August 12, the wise men of the Royal Palace validate the amendment included in the amending finance bill for 2022. Solicited by more than sixty deputies and more than sixty senators, it specifies that “the contested provisions do not disregard the requirements resulting from article 11 of the Declaration of 1789“.

The Constitutional Council, however, matches its decision “two reservations of interpretation framing the future choices of the legislator“. It requires the legislator to set upstream the amounts dedicated to the financing of public broadcasting so that the organizations “are able to carry out the public service missions entrusted to them“. The Council will then be in charge of validating or not the respect of his request.

Political victory for Emmanuel Macron

The measure was voted by the Assembly on July 23, before being validated by the Senate on the night of Monday August 1 to Tuesday August 2. With an annual amount of 138 euros in mainland France and 88 euros overseas, the fee brought in 3.2 billion euros this year out of the 3.8 billion paid to public broadcasting.

This validation is a victory for Emmanuel Macron who, during his re-election campaign, brandished the end of the royalty as a lever of support for the purchasing power of the French. Rather than an annual contribution, the budget of public televisions and radios will be drawn from part of the VAT. The voted amendment ensures a budget of 3.7 billion euros for the coming year.

This measure should not lead to an increase in this tax, as assured many times by Quentin Bataillon, deputy of the presidential party Renaissance, and co-rapporteur of this amendment with Aurore Bergé. This method of financing, however, is only temporary. The public finance orientation law of 28 December 2021 will prohibit from 2025 allocating the proceeds of a tax to sectors that have no link with it. A new debate will therefore have to take place.


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



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