The government has promised an austerity plan to reduce the public deficit to 5% of GDP within a year. Local authorities will be involved, and those in the Southern region will not escape this, according to the avenues currently mentioned.
Metropolises, Departments, Regions… French local authorities will have to tighten their belts in the months and years to come. The announcements by Prime Minister Michel Barnier will have an impact on budgets at different levels in our country.
The head of government explained that he hoped to achieve savings of 40 billion euros in total. An ambition which is part of an austerity cure to bring France and its deficit to 5% of gross domestic product. For this, communities will be called upon to contribute. The State is counting on five billion euros saved in this area, or 1/8 of the efforts to be made.
Let us first point out that it will be the richest territorial organizations that will have to get their hands dirty. Our colleagues from Capital indicate that this would concern 450 public bodies. The Intercommunalités de France association notes that the amounts would vary between 0.8 and 154 million euros per community. It also gives figures for the South-East.
Almost 10 million euros for the Nice Metropolis
For the Nice-Côte d’Azur Metropolis, for example, the drain imposed on the budget is estimated at 9.9 million euros. This is one of the largest tributes on this scale, even if it is far behind Aix-Marseille (21.9 million) and Lyon for example (50 million, highest total).
At the level of the Alpes-Maritimes Department, we can expect a cut of 27.2 million euros. It is more or less equivalent to Var (25.4 million), and very far from Bouches-du-Rhône (51 million euros). In Paris, a drop of 154.3 million is expected.
42 million euros taken from the Region
Other communities requested, the regions, and there, no one will be missing in France, unlike the two categories previously mentioned. In Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, the reduction should be around 42 million euros. It is within the average, which is 40 million, with two extremes: Centre-Val de Loire (23.9 million) and Ile-de-France (81.3 million).
From this device must arise a “precautionary fund” of almost three billion euros. This will constitute a reserve. A plan which will therefore logically slow down public spending at all levels. And the contribution might not stop there.
The government’s plan also provides for the freezing of VAT, but part of this tax is returned to communities so that they can invest. But next year, the amount collected will be maintained at the 2024 level, which should bring an additional five billion euros to the State.
The “Green fund for ecological transition” will be revised downwards, and contributions to the National Agents’ Retirement Fund will increase by just over a billion euros according to the 2025 Social Security financing bill. weigh on the accounts…
