Would the gendarmerie be a bad payer? This is what several municipalities in France are discovering according to the France Bleu survey. The hole in the coffers is very significant and the gendarmerie can no longer pay the rent for its premises and its official accommodation… “The gendarmerie owes us 236,388 euros in late rent,” explains Édith Pugnet, mayor of Cabestany, to our colleagues. , a commune near Perpignan in the Pyrénées-Orientales. A sum which is almost equivalent to half of their overall operating allocation…
The majority of municipalities in France hosting a gendarmerie in municipal premises are in a comparable situation. Contacted by France Bleu, many mayors spoke of an “unacceptable”, “ubiquitous” and “disastrous” situation in terms of image: where is the State’s duty to set an example? »
Indebted to house the gendarmerie, these municipalities are no longer able to make ends meet and are seeing their budgets empty…
“200 million euros” missing
“Upon its arrival, the new government team realized that the budgetary situation was much more serious than expected, and that around 200 million euros would be missing in the funds allocated to the gendarmerie for the year 2024. In addition , the legislation in force would not allow the government to transfer funds from one service to another,” explained Lauriane Josende, LR senator for Pyrénées-Orientales, on France Bleu.
The senator reports that a corrective finance law is being prepared in order to regularize the situation. However, until it is passed before the end of the year, rents cannot be paid. Or gradually. State services have been tasked with identifying the municipalities most in difficulty in order to treat them as a priority.