The end of inadmissibility. The new Prime Minister, Michel Barnier, has not responded favourably to the request of Eric Coquerel, chairman of the Finance Committee, and Charles de Courson, rapporteur general, to provide them with framework letters for the 2025 budget.
The two parliamentarians went to Matignon on Tuesday 17 September to collect their key documents for the bill on the economic functioning of the State. They then left empty-handed.
“We are quite stunned (…) because we have been denied access to these documents,” complains Bruno Coquerel as he leaves Matignon, about half an hour after his arrival.
• What are ceiling letters?
These documents determine the resources available to each ministry, specifying both the appropriations available per mission and the maximum number of posts. They clearly establish the amount of funds allocated to a ministry to carry out its missions and projects, based on the priorities defined by the government. Their documents are used as a basis for preparing the budget for the year.
The funds allocated are decided during the budget conferences held in the spring, “during which ministries submit their requests to the Budget Directorate,” the Ministry of Economy’s website said.
Tough negotiations with Bercy followed before the Prime Minister made a decision, in theory, before the end of June.
Letters on the ceiling are then sent to each ministry by July 15. They can still be discussed until the end of the month in order to “fine-tune the distribution of appropriations and their uses to allow the preparation of budgetary documents attached to the finance bill,” Bercy said.
• Why are the two parliamentarians requesting these documents?
Due to the political context, the letters on the ceiling were not communicated until mid-August by the resigned Prime Minister, Gabriel Attal. However, no document was sent to Éric Coquerel and Charles de Courson. The two parliamentarians, who hold the most important positions within the Finance Committee, have thus stepped forward.
“We, the parliamentarians, have not received anything that would allow us to start working,” the Commission President told BFMTV on Sunday 15 September.
He asked Matignon to rectify the situation within 24 hours. The Prime Minister’s entourage had indicated, in a letter sent to those concerned, that he would send them “at the end of the week” “a separate reprint (…) with the main data extracted from the ‘ceiling letters'”. But without these famous ceiling letters, therefore.
• Does the Prime Minister have the right not to provide letters on the caps?
The government has no constitutional or legislative obligations. It is clear that Michel Barnier has the right to act in this way. Eric Coquerel and Charles de Courson, whose responsibilities give them the right to verify budget documents, claim that their consultation would allow members of the Finance Committee to begin examining the budget.
Source: BFM TV
