How local government spending weighed down the public deficit

2024-09-11 07:00:00

Among the urgent files left by Gabriel Attal to his successor Michel Barnier, there is a particularly poisoned chalice: public finances in complete disarray. According to new estimates from Bercy, France’s deficit for 2024 is expected to slip even further than expected in April, from 5.1% to 5.6% of GDP. A very bad signal given that France is already under surveillance by Brussels for excessive deficit. By sending a letter on September 2 to the parliamentarians responsible for monitoring the Budget, describing the alarming situation, the resigning Minister of the Economy pointed to a culprit: local authorities, which are spending more than expected. “The main risk,” writes Bruno Le Maire, “is linked to the extremely rapid increase in local authority spending, which could alone degrade the 2024 accounts by 16 billion euros. “The local authority deficit would then exceed 20 billion, while it stood at 5.5 billion in 2023 and was zero in 2022.

Read alsoBruno Le Maire sounds the alarm on a new budgetary slippage

For the main parties concerned, mayors, presidents of inter-municipalities, departments or regions, “it’s a huge joke!” summed up Valérie Pécresse, the head of the Ile-de-France region. “A crude and unfounded accusation”, according to the Association of Mayors of France. “Caricature”, “false trial” or “misleading announcements”, the associations of elected officials do not have words harsh enough to send the minister back to his goals. According to them, Bruno Le Maire’s communication operation would simply aim to divert attention from the heavy responsibility that falls on the State in the deterioration of public accounts.

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#local #government #spending #weighed #public #deficit

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