The Departmental Council voted yesterday on the initial budget for 2016, which its president described as full of “courage and truth”.
The discussion before the deliberation was brief: the departmental majority is so overwhelming (50 councilors out of 54) that the few opponents could only express some timid doubts about the benefits of a policy that Eric Ciotti defined as “a model of budgetary balance”.
Although socialist Marie-Louise Gourdon tried to highlight the results of the regional elections in PACA by arguing that “appeasement (editor’s note: between republican forces) is necessary”, the interlocutor was not really listening.
Eric Ciotti’s response was scathing: “the ideological confusion between right and left cannot produce any reform capable of getting the country out of the rut in which the socialists have led it”.
Moreover, the leader of the Republicans, whose reputation as a critic of the socialist government is well-known, took advantage of the presentation of this budget to launch into a severe philippic (he even went so far as to speak of a “disintegration of the Republic”!!!), with a deceptive use of statistical figures: in fact, how can one define the “dramatic social situation of our country” by referring to the 720,000 additional unemployed since François Hollande’s election, when during Nicolas Sarkozy’s five-year term they were nearly 800,000?
Or, again, how can one reference the current public debt of over 2.1 billion euros while forgetting that, still in the previous five-year term, it had increased by nearly 600 million, a term which nevertheless ended its course with a deficit of 5.2% relative to GDP?
Francis Tujague has an easier role and takes advantage of it: at the national level, his party is united with the right in opposition; at the local level, he is therefore in opposition.
So, half-complicit, half-opponent, he can juggle between the two. His choice? To speak only about the problems of his canton (Paillon Valley, Roya Valley) and to obtain the goodwill of the president of the Departmental Council on these matters: in these cases, a “noted well” says it all!
Conclusion: Eric Ciotti can display his satisfaction and say with a broad smile that: “the opposition voted on 18 out of 25 budgetary deliberations and abstained on 4. In short, in the end, they voted against the general budget and approved the sectoral budgets”.
This is what is called constructive opposition! What more could a president hope for?
Moving from political speeches to the administrative side, there are no changes for the figures for the year 2016: the turnover will be around 1.3 billion euros, practically unchanged compared to 2015.
Details by chapter: 925 million euros in operating expenses, 210 million in investment.
Some key figures: 492 million euros for social expenses (support for the elderly and disabled, child protection, allocation of the RSA), 43 million euros for educational, cultural, and sports policies, 71.5 million euros for SDIS (fire and rescue services).
On the revenue side, the reduction of state grants will be 25.9 million euros for DGF and 36.8 million euros for DTMO, “a budgetary hold-up” according to Eric Ciotti.
Despite this, taxes will not be increased, even though one can reasonably bet on an increase in transfer duties thanks to a recovery in the real estate market.
Moreover, as a symbol of good administration, the debt service caps at 65 million euros, which allows for a reduction of 10 million euros in the overall debt whose stock will fall back to less than 900 million euros.
But the Departmental Council President’s trump card has not yet been played: it will be the negotiation of the multi-year department/region contract whose signing was refused under the presidency of Michel Vauzelle.
In the new political context, a revised agreement could certainly provide attention and generosity to the department’s investment program.
