Faced with rising energy prices, Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire stressed on Wednesday that not all communities could be helped in the same way, suggesting that state support be conditional on the rigor of its budget management. “I do not underestimate at all the difficulties” of the local authorities, said the minister before the Commission of Economic Affairs of the National Assembly.
But “we cannot treat all communities in the same way: there are communities that are doing well, others that are in great difficulty”, added Bruno Le Maire, a few days before the start of debates in Parliament on the budget for 2023, during which the issue of supporting communities will likely return to the agenda.
“You also have well-managed communities, and less-managed ones. When I see communities that have contracted massively and then come to ask the state, because they cannot pay the energy bills, to pay instead of the communities, that can be a difficulty”, warned the number two of the Government.
30,000 communities have access to a regulated rate
As a whole, he concluded, “local entities are protected, since 30,000 of them have access to a regulated rate and the rest benefit from a [fonds d’un] half a billion euros that Parliament voted this summer”.
The 500 million fund “is clearly insufficient compared to the situation that the communities may experience”, forced to assume the rise in energy prices and the 3.5% increase in the salaries of civil servants, the official insisted. elected from Indre-et-Loire. Local authorities are also concerned about a decrease in their tax revenue, with the upcoming abolition of the contribution on the added value of companies (CVAE), which should cause them to lose 4,000 million euros in 2023.
Source: BFM TV
