centrist senators attack the decree before the Council of State

The government announced savings measures in February, implemented by decree, a few weeks after the adoption of the 2024 budget, citing a deterioration in revenues.

Published


Update


Reading time: 1 min

A session of questions to the government takes place in the Senate, in Paris, on April 10, 2024. (MAGALI COHEN / HANS LUCAS / AFP)

Four senators from the centrist Union group filed an appeal with the Council of State on Tuesday April 23. They are targeting a decree by which the government canceled 10 billion euros of credits in February, an approach which according to them presents “a character of budgetary insincerity”. “It seems that the cancellation of credits carried by the contested decree modifies the main lines of the budgetary balance and this is why the decree must be canceled”write the applicants to the Council of State, in an appeal that AFP was able to consult.

“The cocktail of things left unsaid and circumvention of Parliament in a matter which is constitutionally reserved for it is completely unacceptable”further write senators Nathalie Goulet (Orne), Michel Canévet (Finistère), Vincent Delahaye (Essonne) and Hervé Maurey (Eure), who all sit within the centrist Union group.

“The cancellation of credits by decree, especially when it occurs shortly after the adoption of the finance law, can be seen as a circumvention of the democratic process”, these parliamentarians also argue. The executive has already announced that it intends to make 10 billion euros in additional savings this year, and projects 20 billion euros in savings in the 2025 budget, which will be debated in the fall in Parliament.


source site-33