Emmanuel Macron will take the pulse of local elected officials. The Head of State is going to contact the mayors gathered in Paris this Wednesday to display a more “peaceful” relationship than in the past.
This year, the Elysée says it wants to innovate: no closing speech at the 104th congress of the Association of Mayors of France (AMF) for the president – it will be delivered on Thursday by Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne, but a long “wandering” several hours at their show, organized parallel to the Parc des Expositions at Porte de Versailles with 1,200 exhibitors.
“Have a much more direct and stronger contact”
The objective, argues the presidency, is to meet those who “offer innovative solutions” and “to have a much more direct and strong contact”. Emmanuel Macron will speak in front of a thousand mayors, but in the evening during a reception at the Elysée. The choice of the staging, however, makes some teeth cringe, especially in the opposition. “He confuses the mayors’ fair and the agricultural fair”, deplores the socialist André Laignel, vice-president of the AMF.
Between the powerful association of elected officials and the president, the time is nevertheless for appeasement after a first five-year term marked by tensions. AMF President David Lisnard, LR Mayor of Cannes, believes that Emmanuel Macron has “completely changed” his speech by opening the door to “a new chapter of decentralization”. In Mayenne, the President of the Republic had in fact said he was in favor in October of “true decentralization”, accompanied by the transfer of “responsibilities”, “normative power” and the necessary “funding”.
The Elysée defends the “return of the State in the territories”
At the Elysée, on the contrary, we want to see in the improvement with the communities “the fruit” of the policies initiated five years ago in favor of financial support and a “return of the State to the territories”, rather any turning point. The executive highlights the opening of 2,600 France Services houses by the end of December (one hundred more than initially promised) or the creation of 35 additional sub-prefectures, including six this year.
The government has also multiplied its actions in recent weeks, with the announcement of an additional 1.2 billion euros to local authorities in the form of a loan to accelerate the ecological transition and that of five billion by 2026 to “revitalize” the center of 234 medium-sized towns. Above all, Elisabeth Borne announced a higher than expected increase in the global operating grant (DGF) for local authorities in 2023, to 320 million euros. From “show off”, retorted David Lisnard, who sees only a modest catch-up, the DGF not being “not indexed to inflation since 2010”.
The financial difficulties of mayors
Elected officials are also worried about the abolition of taxes they were collecting, such as the housing tax on main residences and now the CVAE, a production tax. Municipalities are also now tempted by an increase in property tax, one of the only tax levers they still have. Because city councilors are also faced with the explosion of energy expenditure. The government has put in place an “electricity buffer” and a “safety net” welcomed by the mayors, who are however awaiting details on their operation.