“We are going to very significantly reduce the effort required of you”, announces Michel Barnier to the presidents of the departments of France

Friday 15th November 2024 06:23 AM

Prime Minister Michel Barnier is in Angers this Friday noon. At the end of the morning, he addressed the presidents of departments gathered at a meeting in Angers.

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“The first truth is to recognize with you that we have pushed the departmental model as we have known it for 30 years to its limits”recognized Michel Barnier in front of the presidents of the departments gathered in Angers (Maine-et-Loire).

“We are going to significantly reduce the effort required of you,” announced to applause, the Prime Minister in front of the presidents opposed to the 2025 budget which provides for an effort of five billion euros in savings for communities, including 2.2 billion for the departments.

The Prime Minister promised the department presidents their “restore room for maneuver, to give oxygen, to give freedom, to restore the sense of your mission”.

Michel Barnier mentioned “the evolution of the mode of financing of departments in which the tax leverage has been greatly reduced to the very point that you are wondering if it still exists.

The budgetary effort requested from departments as part of the 2025 budget will be reduced “very significantly” to take their situation into account “very specific”, also announced Michel Barnier at the close of the meetings of the Départements de France association.

“The budget that I had to present so quickly is neither perfect nor final, recalled the Prime Minister “I am not closed to any evolution of this budget,from the moment when the deficit objective of 5%, which I believe to be of national interest, and which is dictated by the urgency that I mentioned from the moment when this objective of 5% is preserved”.