The Notre Affaire à Tous association announced on Wednesday that it would contest before the Council of State, alongside the University of Lyon 3, the decree recording savings of 10 billion euros announced by Bercy, affirming that these cuts “should have made the subject of parliamentary debate.
The university, renowned for its law section, contacted the Council of State immediately after the publication in the Official Journal on February 22 of the decree, considering that with this path, the government had chosen to exceed its powers and circumvent the Parliament.
This decision should have been the subject of a parliamentary debate, also asserts Jermie Suissa, general delegate of Notre Affaire Tous, quoted in the press release. Given their amount, these cuts are legally questionable, asserts the association, considering that this undermines the separation of powers and calls into question the sovereignty of parliament in budgetary matters.
The possibility of canceling credits must be justified by an exceptional and unpredictable context (…) It must not become a means for the government to pass budgetary decisions for which it does not obtain a parliamentary majority, details the communication.
The NGO also denounces arbitrary cuts, particularly regretting that environmental protection constitutes the mission most quantitatively affected by credit cancellations.
According to her, more than 2 billion euros are disappearing, or more than 10% of the credits planned for ecology in the initial budget. Among the most affected programs, the MaPrimeRnov’ program is targeted by the government for around 1 billion euros, recalls the association.
Technically, the request filed by the University of Lyon 3 asserts that the amount of these cuts, which occurred after a downward revision of the French growth forecast for 2024, exceeds the ceilings provided for by law.
Its action is based on article 14 of the Organic Law relating to Finance Laws (LOLF), which stipulates that the cumulative amount of credits canceled by decree (…) cannot exceed 1.5% of the credits opened by the finance laws relating to the current year. However, according to Lyon 3, this threshold has been exceeded, contrary to what the government claims.