Local elected officials deserve “listening and respect”, responds Catherine Vautrin to Bruno Le Maire

Local elected officials deserve “listening and respect”responds Catherine Vautrin, Minister for Partnership with the Territories and Decentralization, to the former Minister of Finance Bruno Le Maire, who held local authorities partly responsible for the public deficit slippage. She was the guest of the program “Ma France” on France Bleu Thursday, September 26.

On September 2, Bruno Le Maire sent a letter to parliamentarians in which he denounced “the extremely rapid increase in local government spending”Who “could alone degrade the 2024 accounts by 16 billion euros.”

“I’m going to be extremely clear about this, answers Catherine Vautrin. I am still a municipal councilor and community advisor today. I chaired an executive and I know the commitment of elected officials to budget control.” The new minister of the Barnier government is attending the congress of French regions in Strasbourg on Thursday and explains that “the regions have a major investment challenge and their expenditure is investment expenditure.” According to her, the State and the communities have “obviously a shared responsibility and it starts with respect, especially not throwing anyone into retribution”, she tackles. She “welcomes the commitment of elected officials on the subject”, for whom she has “infinite respect”.

“I know what the work of a mayor of a town of less than 100 inhabitants is, which, obviously, with its municipal council, is 24 24/7, 365 days a year serving his fellow citizens when something happens, she explains. The first answer is given by the mayor. And that deserves to be listened to and respected.”

She concludes that we “We cannot, on the one hand, with our hand on our heart, say that there are no more elected officials and on the other hand, not ask ourselves why someone no longer wants to get involved? That is why we must be very vigilant,” warns Catherine Vautrin.