the essential
This evening, the left remained silent so as not to give way to divisions, leaving Frédéric Cabrolier (RN) and the majority to debate the community’s accounts face to face.
Stéphanie Guiraud-Chaumeil, the mayor, cannot hide her astonishment at the attitude of her left-wing opposition. No speaking during the vote on the administrative account. This is certainly the first time this has happened. None either during the vote on the 2024 supplementary budget. Oh yes, a small one on securing the Madeleine footbridge. “If the only thing that interests you is the €80,000 for the footbridge, it’s because life shouldn’t be that bad,” says the mayor to the left-wing elected officials, who in the process vote against the budget or abstain, always without speaking at all. “It’s huge to vote against a budget about which we have no questions. It’s an ideological vote,” she concludes, recalling that the majority group is not ideological.
Despite her attacks and small barbs, the first magistrate will not be able to make the left opposition deviate from its line of conduct. Tonight, it will be consensual. Even the circuit, the famous one, did not succeed in triggering the debates.
As everywhere in France, the legislative elections have been invited to the council table. As a result, this evening, the left-wing opposition refrained from speaking out so as not to be open to attacks. In the past, comments made on certain subjects had led to the split of the socialists, who had joined the group of communists. Today, it is time for unity.
If the left has chosen not to speak, on the side of the extreme right, we have the opposite tactic. Frédéric Cabrolier wants to prove that he is not an “artificial intelligence”, as Senator Folliot recently nicknamed him. He speaks at length on the administrative account, he has always done so in the past. But legislative elections oblige, it is clearly Emmanuel Macron’s policy that he is targeting.
As usual, he distributes good points to the majority, to say that in the end, the ratios are bad and that he will not “vote this budget” (the administrative account in fact, which is not all exactly the same as the mayor reminds him). He denounces the increase in tax pressure on the Albigensians (+ 9% and + 34% for the outstanding debt). Finally, the former deputy announces that the State will ask for a new effort from communities in 2024.
Roland Gilles, the big financier, argues that the tax pressure is the fact of the State which increased the bases (+ 7%), when the city maintained its rates despite the inflationary context. Yes, the city has taken on more debt but, according to him, the repayment capacity has increased. “We can assume our debt,” he explains. The debt reduction capacity of Albi is 4.5 years when it is 5.7 years for the stratum. The alert threshold is 10 years.
Stéphanie Guiraud-Chaumeil recalls that already in 2014, the State (whose government was not of the same political color) had asked communities to make an effort to straighten out the public accounts. “We had to learn to make the budget with €3 million less. It’s hard but we did it. We learned to make choices,” she says. Because for her, straightening out public accounts is a civic and responsible act towards future generations.
