The group of departments of the right, the center and the independents (DCI) within the Départements de France association brandished this threat on Thursday so that the government reverses the budgetary cuts planned for 2025.
The departments led by the right and the center announced Thursday their intention to suspend the payment of active solidarity income (RSA) and to stop taking care of new unaccompanied minors (UMA) if the government does not reconsider the budget cuts planned for 2025.
“From January 1, all departments of the right and the center will suspend their payments” of RSA to family allowance funds and “we will no longer take care of new unaccompanied minors because it is migration policy”, declared during a press point Nicolas Lacroix (LR), president of the group of departments of the right, the center and the independents (DCI) within the Départements de France association, meeting in congress in Angers. “So far, we have said nothing (…), but child protection is not migration policy. Today, unaccompanied minors, let the State manage and take care of them”he added.
The left-wing departments are also considering mobilizations
Nicolas Lacroix also plans “to attack the state” in court every time he makes a decision “which impacts the finances of departments without their agreement” and asks the government to suspend the new revaluations planned under Ségur. In a separate press briefing, the thirty presidents of departments led by the left held up colorful signs explaining the impact of the planned cuts on the lives of the French. “We are also considering mobilizations in our own departments”declared Jean-Luc Gleyze, president of the group of left-wing departments, who plans to put a large tarpaulin on the building of the Gironde department that he chairs, or to demonstrate. “If we are defending the departmental budget today, it is above all because we are defending the people we help on a daily basis”he added, specifying that the budgetary effort had “already been done” for departments with a loss of 6 billion euros in transfer taxes in two years.
“Will it be necessary to impact the elderly person and make them pay more than they have to pay in nursing homes? Should we reduce the number of social workers? Should we support sports clubs less? Should we protect children less? Should we increase the price of school canteens for middle school students?he asked. The departments are facing an explosion in their social spending on child protection, assistance for dependent elderly people and people with disabilities, but at the same time are seeing their revenue from real estate transactions decline and are recording less than VAT as expected.
The finance bill for 2025 provides for an effort of 5 billion euros for communities, but according to Departments of France, the departments are the most impacted stratum of communities, with 44% of the effort, or 2.2 billion euros, even though their economic situation is recognized as fragile. The departments are calling on the government to review its copy by abandoning the planned levy on operating revenues and freezing the VAT dynamic.
France
