The Prime Minister has just granted a long-standing request from senators and local elected officials. While he was questioned about the budgetary effort planned for local authorities in the 2025 budget, this October 9, Michel Barnier made an announcement which should satisfy the mayors. The latter will not have to transfer responsibility for water and sanitation to the communities of municipalities on 1is January 2026.
“We are not going to go back on the commitments already made and on the transfers already made, but there will be no more compulsory transfers in 2026,” announced the Prime Minister, before being applauded at length in the hemicycle. The head of government considered that it was “time to close since the NOTRe of 2015 what is a real difficulty, perhaps an injury, in the trust between the government and the Senate”.
Senator Cécile Cukierman denounces the “heavy budgetary sanction” which will weigh on communities in the budget
Highly contested in the Senate, the transfer of this water and sanitation competence was included in the NOTRe law (New Territorial Organization of the Republic) of 2015, and the Senate managed to postpone the initial deadline by six years. The Prime Minister specified that he would work with Catherine Vautrin, Minister of Partnership with the Territories and Decentralization, and Françoise Gatel, Minister responsible for Rurality, Commerce and Crafts, but also the senators, to “refine » this orientation.
For Michel Barnier, this position is likely to ensure “more freedoms” and “confidence” in the municipalities. But this compensation will undoubtedly be considered insufficient for local authorities, subject to a “heavy sanction” within the framework of the finance bill, in the words of the president of the communist group Cécile Cukierman. The government hopes to obtain five billion euros in savings from local authorities, out of the 40 billion savings planned for all public spending. The first vice-president of the Association of Mayors of France (AMF) estimated, for his part, the total cuts amounted to “9.5 billion euros”. “This drain lends credence to the idea spread by Bruno Le Maire and Thomas Cazenave that communities are responsible for the debt,” protested the senator from the Loire.
“We will protect the most fragile communities”
Defending a “partnership” between the State and local authorities, the Prime Minister repeated that it was “fair” that the efforts to restore public accounts were “shared”, especially since the expenditure of local authorities had “a lot increased in recent years,” he said. “I know that it is an effort that we are going to ask for, we are going to ask for it, not in a spirit of accusation, of indifference, but of partnership, to try to manage this economic situation together,” he said. he explained. He said the “most fragile” communities would be protected from the effort.
“It will not be enough to simply return to the problems of the NOTRe law so that you have our full credit,” replied Senator Cécile Cukierman, calling on the government to make the “rich” contribute, “to get away from the austerity logic” .
