For the police, this is one of the good news of the year. On October 2, Emmanuel Macron announced the creation of 238 new brigades by 2027, including 93 in fixed barracks. Establishments that local elected officials often welcome with enthusiasm. They still need to have the means to construct the buildings. In recent years, this has not always been the case.
“There, we will arrive at the site where the gendarmerie was planned.”, says Alain Bourgoin at the wheel of his car which crosses the small town of Oudon (Loire-Atlantique). For almost 3 years, this mayor worked on new buildings for his gendarmerie. The land was found, the plans completed and 200,000 euros were spent on preparatory work. But in December 2022, the project, which had become too expensive, was abandoned. “The cost of materials has exploded, it’s really due to inflation. We have to be responsible and so we decided to stop the project”, remembers the chosen one. The construction costs of the gendarmerie increased from 2 million euros to more than 3.5 million euros. The municipality could not follow. And this is a serious problem because in France, to create a barracks, the participation of communities is essential.
“The cost of materials has exploded (…) We decided to stop the project”
Alain Bourgoin, mayor of Oudon
When a project is validated, the State undertakes to finance the salaries of the military and their equipment. Local authorities must take responsibility for the construction of buildings which they then rent to the State. To succeed in fulfilling their part of the contract, some municipalities go so far as to take a significant financial risk. This is the case of Etupes, in Doubs, for a barracks which entered service in 2009. “We have 32 housing units, offices, technical rooms and garages”, describes Philippe Claudel, various left-wing mayor of the city. At the time, to finance its gendarmerie, Etupes took out a public-private partnership. She entrusted the construction of the buildings to a project owner, whom she has reimbursed every year since. Problem: until recently, the payments – indexed to a variable rate – increased over time while the rent paid by the State to the municipality remained almost fixed. After repayments, the loss is expected to amount to more than 3 million euros. “In one word, it’s scandalousreacts the chosen one. Because today, the private organization to which we pay this debt is enriching itself at the expense of the community. And all this for a regal service.“
No exceptional envelope for communities
In recent years, dozens of communities’ difficulties in building their barracks have appeared on the front page of the press. Anthology: “The financial commitment of the State deemed insufficient” (Le journal du center, 10/17/2023), “The mayor wonders” (Var Matin, 10/3/2023), “The financing of the new gendarmerie in question ” (La Dépêche, 12/29/2022). So, can these money problems call into question Emmanuel Macron’s recent announcements? The same day of the announcements, October 2, the Elysée indicated in an article in France 3 that aid to communities was “being propped up.“A statement that does not really confirm the 2024 draft budget. With David Ramos, gendarme and president of the GENDXXI association, we deciphered this provisional but informative document. We read in particular that, for all of France, the subsidies of the State to communities for the construction of barracks should amount to 3.6 million euros in 2024. It was 10 million euros in the same project for the 2023 budget. A surprising reduction when Dozens of new brigades are to be created. “It’s at the very least a minimum budget, explains David Ramos. Our first reaction was a certain form of concern but also questions regarding the means allocated to the objectives set.”
Faced with these falling figures, we contacted an advisor from the Ministry of the Interior. On the phone, he assures that no extraordinary envelope is planned to help communities: “There was never any question of the State financing the building. In the call for projects, the prefectures specified to elected officials that the construction of the barracks was their responsibility.” In recent days, these budget reduction forecasts have been confirmed to us by a parliamentarian specializing in defense issues. Like several of our sources, he hopes that the budget will be revised upwards by 2027, the announced deadline for building the barracks.
Among our sources (non-exhaustive list):
Funding problem, “unilateral decision”, the new gendarmerie brigades are not unanimous, France 3, October 2, 2023
Annual performance project, Gendarmerie, 2024
Annual performance project, Gendarmerie, 2023