Where to save money? Whoever the next prime minister is, this question will be one of the first they will have to address if they want to finalise a budget by mid-September and send it to Parliament before 1 September.Ahem October, legal deadline. Gabriel Attal already has his answer. The outgoing Prime Minister proposes to cut spending on work and employment as a priority, reducing it by around 3 billion euros in 2025 compared to the initial budget for 2024. This is what emerges from the “ceiling letter” sent by Gabriel Attal to his Minister of Employment, Health and Solidarity, Catherine Vautrin, on Tuesday 20 August, and which The world He was able to consult.
According to this letter, state expenditures that are dependent on the ministry and can actually be paid during the year would be reduced to 53.2 billion euros in 2025, or 2.9 billion less than in the initial finance law of 2024. In terms of commitment authorisations, which include expenditures that are likely to be spread over several years, the reduction would reach 3.2 billion euros. In both cases, a reduction of between 5% and 6%.
This is just an average. Within the ministry’s overall budget, appropriations for solidarity, integration and equal opportunities are increasing slightly. Those linked to “Health Security” investments fell by more than 1 billion euros, with fewer projects. Finally, in the case of expenditure related to work and employment, the planned cut is quite significant, with a fall of 11%.
“With these ceiling cards, the Prime Minister has established an initial framework, but it is not definitive. This is preparatory work to get everything ready for the next government.”, Let’s put into perspective those around Catherine Vautrin. In fact, the letters sent by Gabriel Attal to all his ministers have limited value. It is “in order to ensure the presentation of the draft law on finances within the timetable provided for by our organic texts and, therefore, the continuity of the financing of public services” that the Prime Minister responsible for current affairs has set an initial framework, he wrote in his letter.
A true political gesture
“It will be up to the next government and parliamentarians to make the changes they consider necessary”, he specifies. This “reversible budget”, According to Matignon’s formula, it is presented as a safeguard measure, to prevent the State from running out of budget in 2025 following the political crisis caused by the dissolution of the Assembly on June 9.
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