Darmanin increase the tone in the face of the regions wayward to the regulation of expenses

PARIS (Reuters) – Gérald Darmanin was sentenced on Wednesday maneuvers “motivated” after that several regions have indicated that they will refuse to sign a contract with the State to limit the growth of their expenditures.

The president of the united Regions of France, Hervé Morin, said on Wednesday that at least a half-dozen regions do not intend to enter into this system of contracting, denouncing a State “giver of lessons” and not very virtuous in terms of the budget.

The folder distributed at the occasion of a press briefing organized by the association of regions of France evokes a State “incapable of reducing its expenses and (who) do not control the growth of its debt”.

“The State actually does his part of the contract and does not have management lessons to receive from Mr. Morin,” said to Reuters the minister of the Action and of the public Accounts, according to which the statements of the president of the Regions of France are “politicking”.

“The State takes into its budget now and will have an expenditure which the progress will be below 1% this year, likely around 0.7% this year, probably around 0.5% next year,” added the minister.

While dismissing the perspective of the “policy of the worst”, Gérald Darmanin has warned that”if you don’t sign, some presidents of the region take the risk that we have to make cuts in staffing next year”.

The executive is committed to a decrease of three points in the public expenditure during the quinquennium and has claimed to local communities, an effort of 13 billion euros over the period.

“VERY BIG RESPONSIBILITY”

For the minister, the 322 large local authorities concerned by these contracts in order to limit the rate of spending growth “have a very big responsibility vis-à-vis the 36.000 communes of France”, since it was their efforts that preserve the rural and mid-sized cities, which are seen to impose, nor contract or decrease in staffing.

According to Hervé Morin, “a single region, Brittany, decided to sign one of these contracts of financial performance.

“Six to seven regions have already announced that they will not sign” this contract, he told Reuters, indicating that the region of Normandy, which he chairs, was in this list.

“The other regions are still thinking and have not yet adopted a definitive position,” said Herve Morin.

Asked by Reuters about the possibility that the regions do not participate in the next Conference of national territories in mid-July – as they have already done last fall – Hervé Morin has just said that a “collective decision” would be taken with his counterparts from the Association of mayors of France (AMF), François Baroin, and the Association of French departments (ADF), Dominique Bussereau.

According to the figures provided by the ministry of the Action and of the public Accounts, a total of 171 contracts financial performance will have been signed by the deadline of 30 June.

“Many elected officials of all stripes” are already engaged in this process, said Gérald Darmanin, citing for example the president of the region Hauts-de-France, Xavier Bertrand, his former mentor (withdrawal of the Republicans) and the socialist Martine Aubry, who chairs the urban community of the metropolis of Lille.

This contract is binding to the 322 largest communities (regions, departments, communities of agglomeration or municipalities) whose annual operating expenses exceed 60 million euros, and which alone represent two-thirds of local expenditure.

Sanctions, in the form of a levy of a fraction of the tax revenue of the following year, have been provided to the communities not observing the objective assigned in their contract. The samples will be proportionally more heavy for those who have not participated in the contracting process.

“The idea is that there is a bonus for those who are virtuous, and that there is a penalty for those who are not virtuous, in terms of the contract”, a summary Gérald Darmanin.

This device, which is provided for in the law on the programming of public finances for the years 2018-2022, has been very badly received by many local elected officials, who saw in it an infringement of decentralization.

(Myriam Rivet, edited by Yves Clarisse)