Paris (AFP)
Paris PS mayor Anne Hidalgo on Thursday asked Prime Minister Jean Castex for greater financial support for the capital as part of the recovery plan, deploring "commitments that have remained a dead letter", in a letter obtained from the AFP.
"Despite your commitments and our numerous exchanges, I can only note that these remain a dead letter and that the attention paid by the State to the difficulties encountered by the City remains below that granted to other communities", writes the presidential candidate who estimates at one billion euros - additional spending and lower revenue combined - the cost of the Covid-19 crisis for the capital.
According to the entourage of the mayor contacted by AFP, the City asked Bercy for an endowment to support local investment (DSIL) of around 130 million euros, under the headings of the recovery and the thermal renovation, and only received a pledge of 80 million euros, an amount "very disappointing" for Anne Hidalgo.
Still according to those around him, the City has so far received "less than 40 million" under the stimulus plan, including for the thermal renovation of social housing, while in 2016, its DSIL stood at 20 million d 'euros.
"This contrasts with the occasional aid provided by the government to communities" whose "selection may, at the very least, raise questions," said Ms. Hidalgo, citing the regional revival agreement signed in January between the State and the Provence-Alpes-Côte-d'Azur region for 1.7 billion euros, and the Energy Recovery and Transition Contract (CRTE) concluded in April with the metropolis of Nice for 2.5 billion.
The State and the Ile-de-France region had signed in March a recovery plan of 13.8 billion euros, presented at the time as "the largest in France".
The elected socialist considers "essential that the State promote transparent criteria" for this localized financial support, "in reverse of the logic of competition between communities in which we are invited to enter".
At the beginning of February, Anne Hidalgo announced to mobilize 1.4 billion euros from the 2021 municipal investment budget to revive an economy severely affected by the health crisis, and called on the State to release an equivalent amount.
In May 2020, at the end of the first confinement, the mayor of Paris had adopted a recovery plan to the tune of 200 million euros to "cushion the shock".
© 2021 AFP