The State finally withdrew from the 2023 budget the highly criticized “trust pact”, which corseted the expenses of local elected officials.
by Benoît Floc’h
This ultimate goodwill gesture has gone completely unnoticed. It is nonetheless very symbolic. The government finally withdrew from the 2023 budget the highly criticized “confidence pact”, adopted on December 17 by the Parliament. This pact aimed to supervise the expenses of local communities on the five -year term, in order to involve them in the recovery of public finances of the country.
This is the end (provisional, perhaps) of a soap opera that has, all autumn, tied the relations between the State and the communities. The government, pressed by the European Union to put order in its accounts, wanted to limit the expenses of local elected officials to 0.5 points less than inflation per year, under penalty of sanctions. The Association of Mayors of France (AMF) was hostile. Elected officials, who are forced to tie budgets to balance, saw in this “distrust pact” an obstacle to their freedom of action.
Against the background of an energy crisis and the absence of an absolute majority in the National Assembly, the device experienced a restless destiny. It was originally included in the public finance programming bill, presented at the end of September. But this text having been unraveled by parliamentarians, the government introduced the pact on the budget project for 2023 on November 2, just before the use of a 49.3. An “extremely violent blow”, had insurgent David Lisnard, president of the AMF; “A declaration of war”, had denounced the socialist deputy of Puy-de-Dôme Christine Pirès Beaune.
On November 24, Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne finally announced that the device would not be accompanied by sanctions. And, less than a month later, he therefore completely went to the hatch. “We work with the hand -handed parliament in hand, justifies the Minister Delegate in charge of local authorities and rurality, Dominique Faure. We are going on the idea of trusting.” We will see. “The Minister will follow the evolution of local expenses And, in six months, she will take stock with the associations of elected officials.
“a balance was found”
Unless, by then, the “trust pact” does not resurface. In Liberation , Jean-René Cazeneuve, rapporteur (Renaissance) of the finance committee in the National Assembly, specifies that the programming bill, finally rejected by Parliament On December 15, would again be discussed “during the first half” 2023. The president of the Delegation to Local Authorities in the National Assembly, the Renaissance deputy of the Gironde Thomas Cazenave, however, does not believe that the pact will surface up this occasion. “The communities have been heard,” he says. “There are no constraints; they are fully responsible. A balance has been found. It is important to stay on the decision that has just been taken.”
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