The Finance Commission of the National Assembly adopted this Thursday a Public Development Assistance (ODA) budget that restores three quarters of the approximately two billion euros of budget cuts planned by the French government for 2025.
ODA is one of the most affected missions of the Finance Bill (PLF), with a drop of 1.3 billion euros, to which are added the new savings of 641 million euros announced on Sunday by the government , a decrease of around 34% compared to the same. until 2024.
“We have the impression that ODA serves as a budget adjustment variable depending on the state of our public accounts, without any real reflection on its missions and its impact,” criticized the commission’s special rapporteur Corentin (Republican right). “In a situation of budget constraints, efforts must be significant but not in these proportions.”
“Diplomacy of influence”
In particular, to “preserve our influence diplomacy,” he said, “we must absolutely preserve the fundamentals of ODA,” such as emergency aid, food and humanitarian aid, or even the social services base. The deputies of La France Insoumise insisted that “the needs increase considerably due to the multiplication of international conflicts”, such as in Ukraine or the Middle East.
A “withdrawal” by France “would send the wrong signal in terms of international solidarity,” they said. The committee subsequently adopted several amendments to rebalance the appropriations granted to ODA in general and, more specifically, to increase support for various funds and organizations, in particular the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA). ), which is on the front line helping Palestinian refugees. population of Gaza, which has just been banned in Israel.
Disagreeing with these guidelines, several representatives of the right and the center, in a minority compared to the left, voted against any increase in favor of ODA, highlighting that it had increased significantly between 2017 and 2023. A symbolic victory but without consequences at this point for ODA. , since the discussion in the chamber will start from the Government’s initial copy – as long as the “revenue” part of the budget is not rejected first, which would send the text directly to the Senate.
Source: BFM TV
