What are these “ceiling letters” demanded from Michel Barnier by Éric Coquerel and Charles de Courson?

POLITICS – Status of the mail: blocked at the sender. So the recipients decided to go and get them themselves. Éric Coquerel and Charles de Courson, respectively chairman of the Finance Committee of the Assembly and general rapporteur of the Budget, announced this Tuesday, September 17, that they were going to Matignon to collect the “ceiling letters” that the Prime Minister’s services did not want to give them the day before.

The ceiling letters determine the resources available to each ministry, i.e. the credits per mission and the maximum number of jobs. They are established after budget conferences, generally between April and May, “ during which the ministries present their requests to the Budget Directorate”explains the Ministry of Economy and Finance.

The requests are then the subject of negotiations with Bercy before being transmitted to the services of the Prime Minister who arbitrates “ at the end of June » in theory. All with the aim of presenting a bill to Parliament on October 1st.

A question of time

Except that the absence of a full-time Prime Minister has disrupted the schedule. In mid-August, Matignon (still headed by Gabriel Attal) finally announced the sending of ceiling letters to the ministries concerned. But nothing was transmitted to Éric Coquerel and Charles de Courson: “We parliamentarians have not received anything that would allow us to start working”the chairman of the Finance Committee protested on BFMTV on Sunday, giving Matignon 24 hours to correct the situation.

It will be done, the Prime Minister’s services promised. Or almost: Matignon only announced the sending during the day “from a mail” which will contain “elements likely to answer questions” members of the Finance Committee. “A reprint”the skeleton of the budget, will also be sent to them “at the end of the week, with the big data taken from the ceiling letters”Matignon specified. Insufficient for the two parliamentarians who therefore decided to use drastic measures.

Sending ceiling letters to the Finance Committee does not fall under any constitutional or organic obligation, they are simply an administrative practice. In a letter sent to Bercy and consulted by The Sunday Tribune On September 11, Éric Coquerel and Charles de Courson themselves acknowledged that“It is not customary to communicate these documents.” “However, the delay in transmitting the offprint does not allow the Finance Committee to prepare the examination of the draft finance bill for 2025 within a reasonable time frame. “, they justified.

A fundamental question

The finance bill is considered one of the most important texts of each legislature. Because it establishes the budgets of each ministry, it is a good indicator of the projects considered priorities (with the largest budgets) of the others and is therefore highly political. On BFMTV, Éric Coquerel took the example of housing, an area entrusted to the Ministry of Territorial Cohesion. “You know the catastrophic housing situation in France (…). We are interested in knowing whether the housing issue is impacted by the reduction in public spending,” he explained.

In mid-August, the preparation of the ceiling letters by the resigning government of Gabriel Attal had raised eyebrows. Bercy justified itself by recalling that it was possible to amend them or even rewrite them completely. Does Michel Barnier intend to do so? Éric Coquerel does not believe so: ” I think that [les lettres préparées par l’équipe de Gabriel Attal] will be at least the working basis of the next budget”said the chairman of the Finance Committee on France 2 this Monday.

According to a Source within the executive questioned by AFP, Matignon would keep the credits that were set by the outgoing government. Enough to make the left howl, very critical of the spending cuts chosen by Bruno Le Maire and previous governments. It will probably be necessary to wait a few more weeks to be fixed. The draft budget could finally not be presented to the National Assembly until October 9 after Michel Barnier’s general policy statement, Matignon indicated. For the first time, the October 1 date will not be respected.

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