The processing of the analysis was commissioned by Barnier’s predecessor Gabriel Attal, Le Monde reported on Wednesday.
“Between 2011 and 2021, the number of local government employees increased by just over 100,000 (by 5.5 percent), although no new powers were transferred from the state to local governments,” the auditor’s report says, and therefore suggests staff cuts. Expenditures on wages represent a quarter of the expenditures of local governments.
What the French Court of Auditors calculates
The French Court of Accounts (Cour des comptes) is a body that oversees public finances.
It also monitors the finances of state-owned enterprises or companies that receive support from the state.
It informs the parliament and the government about its conclusions.
However, the reports of the institution founded in 1807 are not binding for them.
Representatives of local governments do not agree with possible cuts and point out that the state assigns them tasks for which they do not have personnel.
The finances of municipalities, departments and regions represent 18 percent of all state expenditures in France. The progressive cancellation of 120,000 places in self-government before the 2017 elections was also promised by the later president Emmanuel Macron, but in the end he abandoned the plan.
The French palace presented the new government
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