The government wants to make sovereign missions (police, justice, armies) the priority for 2022, by concentrating spending increases on these ministries, but is struggling to put an end to the consequences of the crisis.
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If the presidential whatever costs must gradually be extinguished by the end of the year, after more than a year of epidemic, the ministries will still see their envelope inflated by nearly 10.8 billion d 'euros next year, announced the Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire, opening Thursday in the National Assembly the debate on the orientation of public finances.
"
We have given priority to spending which is at the heart of the State's missions: the armies, the justice system, the police, education and research
", however specified the Minister.
The right denounces a "
renunciation
"
While the ministers were very greedy in their requests to Bercy, the Minister of Public Accounts Olivier Dussopt conceded that the arbitrations were "
difficult to make
".
"
2022 will be both a year of continued recovery, a useful year made up of reforms, and a year which will mark the return to normalization of public spending,
" he said.
But on the right, the chairman of the Finance Committee Eric Woerth (LR) denounced a "
slippage
" and a "
renunciation
".
In the end, "
half of these new expenditures are the result of programming laws, therefore of investment laws in the sovereign activities of the State
", defended Bruno Le Maire.
Defense and education get the highest budgets
The defense budget and that of education will thus both increase by 1.7 billion euros next year, to finance in particular the salary increases of teachers, according to the budget document detailing the spending ceilings of ministries.
The research and higher education budget will increase by 900 million euros, and that devoted to security missions will increase by 800 million euros.
That of justice will increase him by 700 million euros.
Conversely, most of the other ministries will see their budgets stabilize next year.
The other half of the increase in spending will be dedicated "
to support expenditures related to the crisis: the guarantees on the loan guaranteed by
É
tat for example, emergency accommodation, or extension of the university Ticket 1 euro
”, Bruno Le Maire added.
To this will be added the continuation of the stimulus plan, with in particular 2 billion additional euros earmarked for the housing renovation bonus, and the financing of the measures announced Monday evening by Emmanuel Macron, such as the commitment income for young people or the new investment plan.
Public spending is expected to increase further in 2022
In total, public spending should grow another 1.5% next year, a little more than what the executive envisaged in the spring in its stability program transmitted to Brussels.
And for good reason, on the economy side, there is little room for maneuver.
State staff will remain stable over the entire five-year term, confirmed Olivier Dussopt, far from the target of reducing 50,000 civil servants at the start of the five-year term, already abandoned in 2019. The reform of unemployment insurance should allow to reduce spending a little, just like the overhaul of the State's purchasing policy.
Read also: France today suffers from its lack of strategy to reduce public spending
In the majority, the rapporteur of the budget Laurent Saint-Martin (LREM) presented 2022 as a "
pivotal year
" to "mark
the end of whatever it costs
" and "
prepare
" in the "
medium term
" the control of expenditure public, with the objective of reducing the debt ratio by 2027. As such, 2021 should ultimately be less bad than expected, with a public deficit below 9% of GDP, against 9.4% previously expected, Bruno Le Maire said. This is the result of a faster economic recovery, with growth expected to reach 6% this year according to the government, against 5% previously expected.
