The main axes of the 2024 budget project were revealed this Wednesday, September 27. To complete it, France plans to borrow 285 billion euros on the markets in 2024, a record, Bercy announced this afternoon. It aims to respond to the “three challenges” of reducing France’s debt, the fight against inflation and the investments required for the ecological transition, said Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire on Wednesday.
L’Express takes stock of the announcements.
Increasing numbers
State personnel will increase by 8,273 agents in 2024, Bercy indicated on Wednesday in its budget documents for 2024, with marked increases in the missions of maintaining order, police and justice in particular, and the transition. ecological.
The number of State agents and its operators, in full-time equivalent (FTE) thus increases by 2,681 for the Ministry of the Interior, and 1,961 for that of Justice. However, these increases are lower than those of last year. On the other hand, the Ecological Transition workforce will increase by 732 jobs in 2024, instead of 45 in 2023.
Justice, police, army, ecological transition
Credits for the army, police and justice will increase by nearly 5 billion euros in 2024, forecasts the state budget presented on Wednesday, including more than 3 billion for Defense. The Justice budget 500 million, and that of the Interior one billion.
The ecological transition gains, as expected, an additional 7 billion euros.
Education
The 2024 budget of the Ministry of National Education, first in the State, is up by 3.9 billion euros (+ 6.5%) to 63.6 billion euros, according to Bercy budget documents published on Wednesday, a “historic” budget, commented the Minister of Education Gabriel Attal.
An envelope of 1.9 billion euros is devoted, as agreed, to unconditional salary increase measures for teachers (the “base” part of the salary increases). And “nearly a billion euros” are “allocated to financing additional missions carried out by volunteer teachers within the framework of the + pact +”, i.e. increases in remuneration for those who accept new missions.
A tax on airports and highways
The government plans to introduce a new tax on motorway concessions and large airports in 2024 which should bring in 600 million euros annually, he announced on Wednesday while presenting his draft budget.
“The tax on long-distance transport infrastructure will actually be put in place,” declared the Minister of Economy and Finance, Bruno Le Maire, to the press before the presentation of the next budget to the Council of Ministers. “These are polluting transport infrastructures, whether road or air,” he added.