Valérie Pécresse, the president of Île-de-France, gave a conference on the region's 2025 budget on Tuesday November 12. She denounced an “arbitrary blow” after the measures decided by the government to reduce France's deficit.
The Île-de-France region will have to make savings in 2025. A reality, caused by the measures decided by the Barnier government, which Valérie Pécresse regretted on Tuesday November 12 during her press conference on the 2025 budget. The president of the region regretted a “plane blow”.
“We are in no way responsible for the increase in State debt, for the increase in the deficit. I would like to remind you that the State does not provide operating grants to the Ile-de-France region. The region receives taxes and there, they are going to deprive us of the income from these taxes,” she denounced.
The finance bill for 2025, largely rewritten in the National Assembly, provides for an effort of 5 billion euros for communities in order to reduce the public deficit to 5% of GDP.
A drastic drop in revenue
For her part, Valérie Pécresse indicates that “the region will be impacted in two ways”. First of all, by the overestimation of the government's growth hypotheses and therefore of VAT revenues” that Île-de-France was to receive. “Which means that we were deprived in 2024 of a good part of our recipes,” she whispers.
“And for 2025 it is a second blow. It is the State which has decided to deprive the Île-de-France region both of the dynamics of these tax revenues but also of part of these revenues of operation. In an arbitrary and unanimous manner”, criticizes Valérie Péresse.
Between 2024 and 2025, the region's revenues will experience a drastic drop of 321 million euros, BFM Paris Île-de-France learned on October 22, from Valérie Pécresse's entourage.
The latter had also sent a letter on October 18 to the presidents of the political groups of the regional council, warning of future savings. In her missive, Valérie Pécresse denounced a “blind planing attack” by the government which “applies to communities, independently of the good management and savings measures that they have been able to take until then”.
“That’s not how we manage France”
This Tuesday, Valérie Pécresse, however, affirmed to support the Barnier government “because unfortunately our country has no choice but to vote for a budget today”.
“I think that the Senate will restore some reason to what will be presented to parliamentarians. But I am very dissatisfied, there is an element of mismanagement in this way of doing things,” she regrets. Adding: “it's because it's Île-de-France, it immediately brings in 220 million and there's only one person screaming. But that's not how 'we manage France.'
The president of the Île-de-France region says: “All the projects that I support are essential.”
“We have emergencies to finance, we had the money to finance them and we no longer have it. I am really very sad. All the decisions to suspend credit that I make, I take them really reluctantly,” concludes Valérie Pécresse.
The deputies are called this Tuesday to vote on a “revenue” part of the draft budget for 2025, which no longer has anything to do with the text tabled by Michel Barnier at the beginning of October after the victories of the left. The Assembly has until November 21 at most to examine the state budget at first reading, unless rejected this Tuesday.
Then, it's time for the Senate: from November 18 to 23 for the Social Security budget (solemn vote on the 26th), and from November 25 to December 12 for the state budget.
