The resigning government, which envisaged a contribution of five billion euros for communities in 2025 in order to straighten out public accounts, only planned 40 for this region.
Dark cuts for culture and sport in Pays-de-la-Loire
A budget “of strong political choices for the future”, assures the president, Christelle Morançais (Horizons), who, for lack of fiscal leverage, pleads for a “refocusing on priority skills” of the Region, namely investment in high schools and TER trains.
The Pays-de-la-Loire economic social environmental council said it was “very worried about the brutal repercussions on thousands of jobs”.
Beyond the figures, the political discourse irritated, with the president castigating, on
Have Pays-de-la-Loire been emulated? “The Regions prepared their budget on the basis of a government project which required them to contribute heavily, with a freeze on VAT which constitutes nearly 60% of their revenue,” observes local finance specialist, Christian Escallier, for whom the cuts in the culture of Pays-de-la-Loire are “not an isolated case”.
On Thursday, Ile-de-France voted for an investment budget reduced by 27% for culture, or 14.9 million euros less out of a total of 760 million euros in savings.
An “unprecedented austerity cure”, according to the left-wing opposition, which also denounces “axe cuts” in housing, the environment, professional training and transport.
“Economies, this word is not a taboo word for me,” replied LR president Valérie Pécresse, also pleading for a refocusing on regional skills.
Chesnais-Girard hostile to “blind cuts”
The Regions led by the left have publicly refused to “take out the chainsaw” in their culture or community life budget.
“There is a real debate between liberals and social democrats,” said the president of the Brittany Region Loïg Chesnais-Girard (ex-PS). “I don’t believe in indiscriminate cuts that cut into public spending like bad fat,” he said in reference to Christelle Morançais, preferring to “spread out investments over time” or “defer the renovation of high schools.”
In New Aquitaine, however, the Bordeaux National Opera will have to do without 350,000 euros from the Region. “This reduction represents 1.5% of its budget,” defended Charline Claveau, vice-president of culture.
“If we were to decrease elsewhere than on large cultural operators, it would be carnage on smaller structures and festivals,” she explains to AFP.
In 2025, New Aquitaine and Normandy will slow down on the renewal of railway infrastructure and will increase the tax on vehicle registration documents on January 1st.
Auvergne-Rhône Alpes will cut apprenticeships, but welcomes a “record” investment of 1.7 billion euros.
Time to see things clearly…
Some Regions have postponed their vote until next year, while they see things more clearly, such as Occitanie or Hauts-de-France.
“We finance associations which fight against precariousness” but “we are not going to massively reduce subsidies in this area, because we know very well that they will not resist a reduction”, underlines a member of the president’s cabinet, Xavier Bertrand (LR).
A global “plane blow” has, on the other hand, already been passed in Paca, where the president, Renaud Muselier (Renaissance), wishes to “eliminate all duplication of expenditure with the State”.
