The fee reform must be accompanied by “increased guarantees for the independence of public broadcasting” under penalty of being challenged by the Constitutional Council, concludes an administrative report on this measure published Wednesday evening and consulted Friday by the AFP.
This report, co-produced by the General Inspectorate of Finance (IGF) and the General Inspectorate of Cultural Affairs (Igac), puts forward seven proposals with a view to the forthcoming disappearance of the audiovisual license fee, announced by the executive to preserve the purchasing power.
This campaign promise by Emmanuel Macron triggered an outcry among public audiovisual professionals, who had already submitted a savings plan since 2018 for a total amount of 190 million euros over four years. They fear a further decline in their means and losing their independence with funding dependent on the state budget voted each year in Parliament.
For the authors of the report, the reform must therefore take into account the three pillars of financial independence, which are the adequacy of resources to missions, the predictability of resources and the absence of regulation during the year. To ensure a level of financing adapted to the programs, it is proposed to create an independent technical commission in charge of estimating this level, which could be associated with Arcom, the audiovisual and digital regulator.
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Contracts of objectives and means
This would intervene at the various stages of the implementation of the Contracts of objectives and means, the Com, which are the roadmaps established by the State over several years for the various public audiovisual companies. Its existence and its missions should therefore be included in the organic law on finance laws and its opinions could be made binding.
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To guarantee the predictability of resources, the Committees could be established for five years, starting a year and a half after the start of a term of office and their trajectory be written into a text of law, it is also recommended.
Finally, to protect public broadcasting from any change in resources during the year, such as reservations or cancellations of credits, an article could be included in the organic law on finance laws exempting companies from broadcasting of these budgetary regulations.
The report suggests a transition period until 2024 to prepare these guarantees of independence as well as possible and, pending a decision, to allocate to public audiovisual groups a fraction of existing tax (VAT or income tax).
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