Announced on Sunday by the Minister of the Economy, Bruno Le Maire, the 10 billion euros in budget cuts were recorded in a decree published in the Official Journal on Thursday February 22. Among these “credit cancellations”, almost 2 billion euros concern the “ecology, sustainable development and mobility” budget, which is the area most affected.
“Growth is slowing all over the world, particularly in Europe, with a significant growth revision in Great Britain and Germany,” explained Mr. Le Maire on Sunday evening, announcing the revision of French growth for 2024 of 1.4 % to 1%. The Minister of the Economy had specified that half of the savings would come from a reduction in “operating expenses of all ministries”, which will therefore have to tighten their budgets for “energy, [of] furniture, [of] purchases “.
“All ministries will contribute up to what they represent in the national budget,” he warned. These new restrictions, taken by regulation, are in addition to the 16 billion savings already included in the budget for 2024, mainly coming from the removal of the “energy shield”.
During the week, the Minister Delegate in charge of public accounts, Thomas Cazenave, notably announced the establishment this year of a flat-rate contribution from employees to the personal training account: “which (…) will make it possible to generate 200 million euros in savings” out of 2.2 billion in spending that was planned this year. People will be exempt from the remainder if the employer pays or if they are unemployed, Bercy said.
Eric Coquerel called for a corrective bill
Following Sunday evening’s announcements, the president of the finance committee of the National Assembly, Eric Coquerel (La France insoumise), demanded that the government present a draft amending finance law to have these adopted by Parliament. credit declines. For the “rebellious” MP, “the decision to pass changes of this magnitude through regulatory channels is a democratic denial”; a draft amending finance law “should not be a “possibility” but an obligation”. A request quickly brushed aside by the government which preferred to record the 10 billion savings through a decree.
The minister responsible for relations with Parliament, Marie Lebec, declared on Tuesday that a parliamentary debate “would take more time”. “I am not sure that we would face an immense responsibility from the oppositions in this matter (…). The decision that is taken by the Minister of the Economy and Finance is to be able to act quickly and, to act quickly, we take decisions which are by regulatory means and we go to the ceiling of what we can do with these 10 billion euros in savings that are announced,” explained Ms. Lebec.
The organic law relating to public finances specifies 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”. Ms. Lebec recalled that the government was not excluding, moreover, a “collective budget” but “later, during the summer, if that proves necessary.”
“If we need to go further” than these 10 billion savings, which are “already a significant effort”, then the government will submit a draft “amended budget in the summer”, affirmed Mr. Cazenave, Tuesday, on France Inter.
