Paris (AFP)
Edouard Philippe met on Thursday afternoon by videoconference the presidents of regions who asked for a "differentiated approach to deconfinement" and worried about the decline in their resources due to the economic crisis, according to concordant sources.
Mr. Philippe, who will gather representatives of the departments on Friday morning, held this meeting with the regions from Strasbourg, where he was traveling.
While Emmanuel Macron had ruled out Thursday morning with the mayors any regionalization of the deconfinement which must begin on May 11, pleading rather for an unlocking "adapted to the territories", the region presidents also asked that "the intensity varies according to the territories ".
"Everything is still, I believe, open, the discussion is at government level to have a clear and fixed doctrine and, from that, on the whole of French territory, this doctrine will be declined according to the epidemiological reality , of the power or not yet of the epidemic, "said Jean Rottner, LR president of the Grand-Est region.
While the regions have the upper hand in the high schools, the president of the Normandy region Hervé Morin called for "a real discussion between the State and the local authorities because we have the feeling of a great confusion between the speech of Emmanuel Macron, the announcements made by Jean-Michel Blanquer and the hypotheses presented today by the Prime Minister ". The head of state raised questions Thursday by insisting that the return to school would be on a voluntary basis.
But it is the economic questions which mainly occupied the meeting between the Prime Minister, accompanied in particular by the Minister of Economy Bruno Le Maire, and the regions. The latter are particularly concerned by the drop in their tax revenue (VAT, Contribution on the value added of companies, tax on energy products ...), estimated at one billion euros in 2020 and between 3 and 4 billion in 2021 , when their total budget is 30 billion.
"If the regions are in default, they will not be able to help the recovery," argued Muselier, assuring that the communities' cash was "dry" and that they risked "sinking".
The presidents therefore proposed to set up "reconstruction contracts", which would be supplemented by regional revenues, the European funds they receive and an extension of the state, in order to "set up projects immediately" , according to Mr. Muselier. These contracts would be signed along the lines of those limiting the growth in spending by local authorities (so-called "Cahors pacts", created at the end of 2017).
A meeting is to take place Monday on this issue with the Minister of Budget Gérald Darmanin.
The meeting also allowed "to take stock of the support mechanisms for economic activity", while regions abound to the tune of 500 million euros the solidarity fund of 7 billion euros set up by government towards business.
"We have insisted a lot on the need to resume work as a general rule," stressed the president of the New Aquitaine Region Alain Rousset, while stressing the "tensions over the purchase of protective means" for employees, such as masks.
Friday at 11:00 am, the Prime Minister will hold a videoconference with the representatives of the Association of French Departments (ADF).
Three points are on the agenda, we learned from the ADF: "crisis management by the departments", "preparing for deconfinement" with the subject of recovery in colleges, and financial matters, in particular related to the loss of tax revenue and the parallel increase in social aid which is the responsibility of the departments.
© 2020 AFP