Between the emergency plan put in place in March 2020 to face Covid-19 (79 billion euros), the recovery plan of September 2020 (70 billion) and the resilience plan of March 2022 to face the increase in energy prices (86 billion), “whatever it takes” will have cost 235 billion euros. But if the health crisis is over, and if inflation seems to be under control, “whatever it costs” continues to weigh on public finances: more than 10 billion in 2024.
In search of budgetary savings, the Court of Auditors therefore proposes to“complete a lasting exit from the crisis” and put an end to it whatever it takes. In a summary note published Thursday, January 9, it proposes twelve measures to reduce public spending by 3.5 billion euros starting this year, and nearly 6 billion in 2027, the time to “unplug” definitely some expensive and ineffective devices.
Thus learning aid, which refocused on the secondary level (up to the baccalaureate) would save 2.9 billion in 2027. “Including higher education courses where learning is of little or no use for professional integration creates ineffective windfall effects for public policies”, judges the first president of the Court of Auditors, Pierre Moscovici.
“Return to pre-crisis levels”
According to him, this measure will be more effective than what the Barnier government proposed by reducing aid in different ways depending on the size of the companies but where all levels of diploma were concerned.
The Court of Auditors also proposes ecological measures, such as lowering the eligibility ceiling for vehicles for the ecological bonus to 1,925 kg (200 million savings), returning to the kilometer tax scale in force in 2021 (530 million ‘euros of savings in 2025, 660 in 2026, 400 from 2027) and to reduce the excise on non-road diesel of the public works sector at the level of common law (180 million in 2027).
“It is not a question of eliminating aid, but of returning to pre-crisis levels”, insists Pierre Moscovici. Thus for the ceiling of the tax credit for childcare outside the home (200 million savings).
“In a limited field, we can do a lot”
Finally, in the cultural field, supported to the tune of 5 billion euros during the crisis, the Court suggests removing the measures “unconvincing” such as the ICC Tech and Touch fund or the call for expressions of interest “culture, heritage and digital”, making it possible to avoid 200 million in expenditure “poor quality”.
-“These expenses are characteristic of our propensity to transform exceptional credits into multi-year credits, then into lasting credits”insists Pierre Moscovici, illustrating “the ratchet effect” specific to France and because of which French public spending, although the highest in the euro zone, is still 3 points of GDP higher than it was before the health crisis…
“The savings that we are suggesting are only a small part of the efforts needed to bring the budget back below 3% of GDP, but it shows that, in a limited area, we can do a lot and in a relatively painless way,” insists Pierre Moscovici for whom the government must no longer wait to implement budgetary saving measures, despite the political situation.
“Structural economies much more effective than the plane”
“The government will necessarily have to find a compromise on the budget and, to achieve this, broaden the base on which it is constituted, he explains. If compromises are necessary, we would pay dearly to make them to the detriment of public finances. »
“I am aware that the 2025 budget will be a balance between tax measures and budgetary savings, he confides. But the fiscal lever will only last one year: for the future, and to return below 3% by 2029, the effort will have to focus almost exclusively on public spending. For this, structural economies are needed, much more effective than the plane. »
He therefore announces that the Court of Auditors will, in the coming months, multiply the proposals “very operational” of this type, including a report on possible savings in social matters, “in the spring, maybe before”.
