“You can’t treat all communities the same.” Faced with soaring energy prices, the Minister of the Economy estimated, Wednesday, September 14, that all communities could not be helped in the same way, suggesting to condition the support of the State to the rigor of their budget management.
“I do not underestimate the difficulties at all” of local authorities, affirmed Bruno Le Maire before the Economic Affairs Committee of the National Assembly. But “You have communities that are doing well, others that are in great difficulty”added the Minister, a few days before the start of debates in Parliament on the 2023 budget.
Increase in the cost of energy for local authorities: @BrunoLeMaire differentiates between those that are “well managed” and those that are not. “We are ready to help those who are facing major difficulties, who have managed well and have no reason to pay for the crisis.”#DirectAN pic.twitter.com/KnrbPvutWy
—LCP (@LCP) September 14, 2022
“You also have well-managed communities, and others that are less well managed. When I see communities that have hired massively and then come to ask the state, because they can’t meet the bills energy, to pay in place of the communities, that can pose a difficulty”warned the number two of the government.
“We are ready to help all those who are facing major difficulties, who have managed well and have no reason to pay for the current energy crisis”, continued Bruno Le Maire. Generally, “local authorities are protected, since 30,000 of them have access to a regulated tariff and the others benefit from a [fonds d’un] half a billion euros which was voted by Parliament this summer”he advanced.
The half-billion fund “is clearly insufficient in relation to the situation that communities can experience”, insisted the ecologist deputy Charles Fournier facing the minister. Local authorities are also worried about a decrease in their tax revenues, with the upcoming abolition of the contribution on the added value of companies (CVAE), which should cause them to lose 4 billion euros in 2023.