" The situation is serious ".
The president of the Île-de-France region, Valérie Pécresse, asked elected officials to help her put the government "face to face with its responsibilities" in the face of the rising costs of operating transport in the Ile-de-France region, in a letter that Le Parisien was able to consult.
In her letter, the LR presidential candidate again brandishes the threat of an increase in the price of the Navigo pass.
“Despite all my attempts to obtain new revenue from the state, the government blockage paves the way for a Navigo pass at 90 euros, or a 20% increase,” she writes.
"This is why I ask you to mobilize all the means at your disposal to make the government face up to its responsibilities on this issue and ask it to include in the 2023 finance bill the necessary tax revenue, in order to help reduce the bill for Ile-de-France users as much as possible,” continues Valérie Pécresse.
Read alsoIle-de-France: employers, State, communities….
Who will pay to avoid the soaring price of the Navigo pass?
The regional operator Île-de-France Mobilités is struggling to cope with the explosion in operating costs for public transport since inflation and the energy crisis, following the invasion of Ukraine by Russia last February .
Especially since the trains continued to transport travelers "during successive confinements to maintain the country's activity (…) despite considerable financial losses", recalls the president of the region who adds that the losses were made up for by IDF. Mobilities.
Several proposals refused by the State
According to Valérie Pécresse, the State would have refused to grant subsidies to make up for the losses of 2020 and 2021, allocating only an "advance of 2 billion euros, the reimbursement of which begins in 2023".
The president of the Ile-de-France region would have proposed a series of solutions to the Prime Minister and the Minister of Transport such as a reduction in VAT, an increase in the mobility payment for companies, the transformation into a subsidy of the Covid debt or even a tourist tax. on hotels over 4 stars.
All these proposals were "swept away out of hand", according to the former budget minister who deplores that all the funding affects "only travelers".
“At my request, local authorities are going to make an unprecedented effort, increasing their contribution by 7.5%, which brings 100 million euros in new resources (€51 million from the Île-de-France region; €30 million from the City of Paris; €8M from Hauts-de-Seine; €4M from Seine-Saint-Denis; €3M from Val-de-Marne; €2M from Yvelines and nearly €1M each for Essonne, Val-d'Oise and Seine-et-Marne)", also indicates the presidential candidate, welcoming "a major gesture".
The government did not wait for the publication of this letter to try to extinguish the fire.
The Minister of Transport, Clément Beaune, said that the government was "in discussion" with the Île-de-France region to "avoid" an increase in the price of the Navigo pass, this Monday on RMC.
The government spokesman, Olivier Véran, for his part assured that the State would be able to discuss with the region to “identify the ways and means to avoid an increase as significant as that which has been cited”.
