“Savings are not a bad word,” says Bruno Retailleau

MPs voted in committee on Tuesday to merge public broadcasting companies on January 1, 2026.

“Savings are not a bad word”, says Bruno Retailleau, president of the Les Républicains (LR) group in the Senate, Wednesday May 15 on franceinfo, about the merger of public broadcasting media on January 1, 2026. The deputies approved it in committee on Tuesday evening . An additional step towards the realization of the executive’s project.

“If we have to make savings to be more efficient, that’s not a bad word”, insists the leader of the LR senators. A speech which contrasts with that of Renaissance MP Quentin Bataillon, who was rapporteur for the information mission on the future of public broadcasting. “The ambition of the President of the Republic, the Minister of Culture and the parliamentary majority is not savings”he assured Monday on franceinfo.

For Bruno Retailleau, France Télévisions, Radio France and France Médias Monde must also tighten their belts. “I don’t see why the audiovisual sector in France wouldn’t do like the French, at a time when we have 3.100 billion in debt”, adds the senator from Vendée. Does he imagine job cuts in the wake of the merger? “If there is a need, to be effective, why not”he says.

Member of the Senate Committee on Culture, Education, Communication and Sport, Bruno Retailleau is “favorable to there being a single management of public broadcasting”a question of “consistency”for him. “Within this group, which would be merged”he imagines “a certain number of entities more specialized in this or that public”. “I don’t see how that can call into question the quality” programs, he says.