“We are taking the motorway in the wrong direction”, denounces the collective Nos services publics which unveils its annual report

“A growing gap has been created between the needs of the population and the resources of public services, into which private services are rushing,” underlines Arnaud Bontemps, spokesperson for “Our Public Services”.

“We are accumulating public policies that are worsening the environmental crisis”denounces Tuesday, September 24 on franceinfo Arnaud Bontemps, spokesperson for the collective “Our public services” who unveils a damning report on the state of public services in France. This report highlights the consequences of a growing gap between the needs of the French and the resources allocated to public services. For 40 years, French society and its needs have “highly evolved”but ““The means of public services have not followed”he laments. The report highlights in particular the “conflict between moving more and polluting less”while the French travel five times more kilometers than 60 years ago. “Public policies have aggravated this conflict of needs”; he believes.

franceinfo: How do you explain the gap between the expectations of the French on a daily basis and the resources given to public services?

Arnaud Bontemps : Over the past 40 years, the population has changed significantly. The needs of the population have changed. 40 years ago, one in four young people completed their baccalaureate. Today, it is four out of five. Ten years ago, there were a third fewer chronic diseases. Today, one in six people in the population is affected. Faced with these changes, the resources of public services have not kept up. A growing gap has been created between the needs of the population and the resources of public services, into which a large number of private services, commercial private clinics, private schools under contract, including those financed with public money, are being squeezed.

According to your report, public services are not taking the right path to respond to the environmental crisis. Do you have any examples?

We are taking the wrong way on the highway and accumulating public policies that are worsening the environmental crisis and therefore our ability to meet long-term needs. For example, in housing for the past 40 years, we have multiplied tax loopholes on what we call rental investment. We provide tax assistance to individuals to become multi-owners rather than helping social housing and we promote new housing rather than renovation. There has been a system per Housing Minister for the past 40 years, the Quilès, the Méhaignerie, the Duflot, the Pinel, etc. Each time these systems have shown their limits, we have added a system, we have piled them up. Today, it costs 2.5 billion euros per year and it gives us a tax incentive to concrete the country rather than renovate housing, and this worsens inequalities.

We still have 80% of French people who depend on cars. Is the State not doing enough to develop transport?

This is an excellent example of these conflicts of needs that are highlighted in the report. We will not get out of this with technical solutions. The way we respond to needs worsens environmental crises and therefore our ability to respond to needs in the long term. Today, we travel five times more kilometers than we did 60 years ago. This means that there is a conflict between traveling more and polluting less. We will not be able to do both at the same time. Public policies have worsened this conflict of needs. They have removed public services from city centers, they have contributed to concreting over arable land to put large areas in the suburbs. We have moved jobs away from places of residence. We could do the opposite: find a form of land use planning that favors the proximity of public services, the establishment of businesses in city centers, the relocation of employment. All of these are issues that will be decisive tomorrow. But we are not making the shift.

Will you submit your report to the relevant ministers?

Of course, we will give it to them. We hope that we will have answers. In any case, we are clearly waiting for the new budget of the future government. It will be a moment of truth. Do we restore the means to put teachers in front of classes, to put doctors in the regions? Do we take this turn? Do we stop the tax measures and put billions of euros of public money into policies that are harmful to the environment? These are clearly questions that will have to be looked at very closely.