A simple sentence that adds fuel to the fire. In the interview he gave to L’Express last week, Emmanuel Macron had the gift of irritating local communities. When discussing the slippage in public finances, the Head of State affirmed that “apart from a drift in initially planned expenditure which is the fault of local authorities, there is no slippage in government spending. “State budget is even rather under-consumed.”
Two days after its publication, the Association of Mayors of France (AMF), Regions of France and Departments of France published a joint press release denouncing an “unfair statement”. They believe in particular “that this provocative declaration further undermines the trust that is nevertheless necessary between the executive and local elected officials”. Philippe Laurent, vice-president of the AMF and mayor of Sceaux, considers this exit irresponsible and defends the results of local authorities.
Is Emmanuel Macron right to assert that the drift in public spending is the fault of local authorities?
Philippe Laurent Of course, no. It’s still incredible to hear things like this, especially coming from the President of the Republic. It is irresponsible to place responsibility for the budgetary situation on communities, when we should rather look at the State and Social Security accounts. We do not understand.
What message do you think he wanted to send?
Certainly to subject communities to much greater rigor by, for example, reducing allocations. We have seen in the past that imposing spending standards on communities does not work very well. It was very technocratic and not really egalitarian. We have no information on the government’s real intentions. I am not sure that the ministers share this opinion. Dominique Faure [NDLR : la ministre déléguée chargée des Collectivités territoriales et de la Ruralité] would never have said that, just like Christophe Béchu [NDLR : ministre de la Transition écologique et de la Cohésion des territoires] and all members of government who know the communities. These are elements of language provided by Bercy which, as usual, exempts itself from all responsibility and shifts it onto others.
What is the reality of the financial situation of local authorities today?
In local authorities, resources come mainly from what remains of local taxes, that is to say essentially the property tax and the property tax of businesses, since the rest has disappeared. The financial contribution of companies is collected in particular by intermunicipalities, it is a form of property tax no. 2 for companies. And then there are some indirect taxes.
At present, we can say that the financial situation of local authorities is not too bad. It is approximately balanced because certain municipalities have increased the property tax. Where the State says “I refuse to increase taxes at all costs” and local elected officials do it in its place because they do not want to reduce services and want to continue to invest. If we cover our expenses with our income and we are balanced, that’s all that matters. However, local authorities represent practically nothing in the public deficit of 5.5% of GDP.
Can this type of declaration harm the relationship between the State and local authorities?
We all have relationships with ministers. I was myself this morning with the Minister of Housing, Guillaume Kasbarian. The local executive discusses with the national executive. We must move beyond these declarations which destroy confidence, it is not good for the general climate. If there is not joint work on many subjects, it will not work. The members of the government say it themselves: “We want to give toolboxes to elected officials so that they can adapt public policies to the territories. We trust them to do the best with the tools at their disposal.” Behind, you take it in the face, it’s not great.
There was talk of involving communities in reducing public spending, where is this project at?
Today, we are nowhere. It may happen that we are required to increase the level of public spending in communities on this or that subject. When we do this, we most often rebalance through a tax adjustment. In my town, there used to be a state-funded educational success program, which helped children who were struggling at school. Taking into account the situation of certain students and their families, the city of Sceaux has decided to re-establish a similar program, which this time it is financing itself. The same goes for the municipal police: we have to increase our numbers to compensate for the insufficient number of national police officers. Local elected officials are very attached to a certain level of public service. We cannot be blamed for increasing spending when it is useful.
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