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By stopping paying SNCF and RATP, Île-de-France Mobilités "is failing in its duties", tackles the government

2021-10-02T08:37:06.738Z


The Ministry of Transport deplored on Tuesday that the regional transport authority of Île-de-France, in great difficulty after the crisis


Île-de-France Mobilités (IDFM) annoys the government.

The Île-de-France regional transport authority, which announced Monday that it had suspended its payments to RATP and SNCF for lack of agreement with the government on compensation for losses linked to Covid-19, "Failing in its duties", judges the Ministry of Transport.

“IDFM is bound by a contract with SNCF and RATP,” he recalls.

Led by the president of the Île-de-France region Valérie Pécresse (Libres!), Île-de-France Mobilités is claiming 1.3 billion euros from the State to compensate for its losses linked to the astronomical drop in attendance during the previous 18 months, marked by successive confinements.

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As the latter refuses such an envelope, IDFM announced Monday the suspension of its payments to the two public groups, for lack of money.

The company pays around 400 million euros every month to the RATP and 300 million to the SNCF to run trains, RER, metro, trams, and buses in the capital region.

Two months of payment suspension in 2020

"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)". The regional transport authority 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 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”.

However, IDFM is asking for the current year to compensate for losses of the order of 1.3 billion euros corresponding - for about one billion - to the decline in tariff revenue and - for about 300 million euros - to that of mobility payments, a tax on the payroll of companies and administrations.

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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.

“We are still in discussions with the State.

(…) We hope that it will be unblocked very quickly, ”said Laurent Probst, CEO of IDFM on Monday.

"We arrive at the time, in September, when the cash flow is too short," he noted.

“We can no longer pay the operators.

As these are operating expenses, IDFM cannot go into debt to cover them.

"Madame 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.

Source: leparis

All news articles on 2021-10-02

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