The regional transport authority Île-de-France Mobilités (IDFM)
"is failing in its duties"
by suspending its payments to the RATP and the SNCF, for lack of having reached an agreement with the government on compensation for losses linked to the Covid-19, the Ministry of Transport said on Tuesday.
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“IDFM is bound by a contract with SNCF and RATP. With her statements, she is failing in her homework "
, the ministry told AFP the day after the announcement of the suspension of payments by the institution chaired by Valérie Pécresse, adding that he was
" not aware of 'a budgetary impossibility for IDFM to honor these payments ”.
The authority chaired by Valérie Pécresse claims 1.3 billion euros from the state and announced Monday the suspension of its payments to the two public groups, for lack of money.
Every month, it pays around 400 million euros to the RATP and 300 million to the SNCF, to run trains, RER, metro, trams, and buses in the capital region.
"
We are not aware of a budgetary impossibility for IDFM to honor these payments
", noted the ministry, which notes that "
the State (the) has already massively supported (e)
".
Compensation of 1.3 billion euros
IDFM relies on the “review
clause
” included in the protocol signed with the State in September 2020, at the end of a first
standoff
after having already suspended its payments for two months. The text indeed provides for a “
reassessment of the situation in the event of further loss of resources attributable to the health situation
”. IDFM is asking for the current year to compensate for losses of around 1.3 billion euros corresponding - for around one billion - to the decline in tariff revenue and - for around 300 million euros - to that of payments mobility, a tax on the payroll of companies and administrations.
For the 2020 losses, IDFM had obtained from the State 1.45 billion euros in reimbursable advance and 150 million in subsidies.
This year, Valérie Pécresse is essentially asking for subsidies and not repayable advances.
"
This is not news in itself
", noted Tuesday Grégoire de Lasteyrie, vice-president of IDFM, present at the National Meetings of Public Transport in Toulouse.
“
We had announced it, the State knew what was going on, the operators were aware.
The deadline has arrived, and Île-de-France Mobilités has simply taken note of the fact that we were no longer able (...), for the moment, (to) settle what we owed to the operators,
”he told AFP.
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IDFM is in discussions with Matignon, says one within the institution.
Since these are operating expenses, she cannot go into debt to cover them.
"
Valérie Pécresse has still not told us what she intended to do on the pricing
" of public transport in Ile-de-France to achieve "
the medium-term balance
" of her finances, also noted the ministry.
"
We have always been very clear on the fact that this Covid crisis could not be paid for by users, and that it should not endanger the investments necessary for the regeneration of the network and the renewal of rolling stock in Ile-de-France. de-France
”, replied Grégoire de Lasteyrie, refusing to increase prices.