A budget of 11 billion euros, with a debt trajectory of 10 billion euros by 2026. Here is the budget, much criticized on the right, but also more succinctly on the left, presented this morning in Paris Council Mayor Anne Hidalgo. A budget “which will make it possible to respond to the major priorities” of the city, namely solidarity and ecological transition, while the councilor is attacked due to the doubling of the debt since his first mandate.
“The budgetary trajectory is not the right one, it is a budgetary drift, and that forces you to increase the debt. 8.8 billion euros in 2024 and 10 billion in 2026, while it was 4 billion euros when you arrived in 2014,” criticized Pierre-Yves Bournazel, co-president of the Independents and Progressives group and member of Horizons, the party of former Prime Minister Edouard Philippe. “The annual weight of the debt is becoming heavier and heavier,” denounced Rachida Dati, boss of the Changer Paris group, which mainly brings together Les Républicains members. The former Minister of Justice was inspired by the film La Haine to unfold his criticism: “So far so good, so far so good, so far so good. But, as everyone knows, the important thing is not the fall. It’s the landing. »
“We are amplifying our climate and social action”
As a preamble to the discussion on the budget, the mayor of Paris brushed aside these criticisms in advance. “We undertake to do more” and “not to give up on the objectives which are ours”, insists Anne Hidalgo, concerned about the disruption of the planet and the poverty which is increasing in the capital. “We are amplifying our climate and social action,” says the one who “decided not to postpone” the work, by investing to the tune of 1.8 billion per year. “100 million euros for green spaces, 100 million euros for transport (…) 52 million euros for the energy renovation of nurseries”… explains the elected official.
To justify the swelling of the debt, the mayor put forward various constraints: “Inflation, slowdown of the economy”, and “a very significant decline in state support”, criticizes the councilor, who points to a “ net loss of 400 million euros” including 96 million due to the elimination of the contribution on the added value of companies. Equalization mechanisms are also targeted, which aim to allocate to disadvantaged communities a portion of the resources of the “richer” communities, but burden the Parisian budget by 177 million euros, which is why Anne Hidalgo took legal action against the State.
“Where is the announced savings plan? »
On the right, we are surprised by these remarks. “It is strange for us to see every year a left-wing majority denouncing the necessary solidarity between the territories,” said Paris MP and councilor Maud Gatel, of the Modem, Democrats and Environmentalists group. Like Pierre-Yves Bournazel, the Paris councilor recalled that the town hall had promised a savings plan of 250 million euros. “Where is the announced savings plan? The meeting didn’t even happen.” Candidate to succeed the mayor of Paris, Pierre-Yves Bournazel suggested the “elimination of the automobile fleet of the City of Paris” which would, according to him, save 23 million euros, or the elimination of the paper magazine ” In Paris”, which would save 2.7 million euros.
On the left, we support the mayor. “The government is picking the pockets of local authorities,” thundered Parisian senator and councilor Ian Brossat, who speaks of “racketeering” and “looting organized by the State”. “What debt are you talking about, that of an uninhabitable world? Take an interest in the cost of air pollution, the costs of conventional food, of the car, take the measure of the human climatic and social debt that you propose to dig into”, launched Fatoumata as an apostrophe. Koné, the president of the Les Ecologistes group, recommending reading the report by economist Jean Pisani-Ferry. The latter puts the additional investments necessary to decarbonize the economy at 66 billion euros per year. “We will have to do in ten years what we had difficulty doing in thirty years,” this report warned.
However, the mayor’s green allies have suggested a significant divergence, which the opposition did not fail to point out. The group was the only one to vote against the capital’s candidacy to host the 2024 Olympic Games and its elected officials today do not accept seeing the budget cut as a result. “The possible investments for the Olympic Games must also be for the climate and social issues,” pointed out Fatoumata Koné, while the Olympic budget for 2024 amounts to 118 million euros, and 380 million for the entire the mandate. But last minute concessions convinced the group to finally vote on the budget. “We obtained 100 million more for the thermal renovation of schools and nurseries,” explains environmental advisor Emile Meunier. And Fatoumata Koné concludes: “We are satisfied, we obtain a rebalancing, we have been heard. »