“
The financial situation of the city of Paris is serious
”
,
denounced the Minister of Transport Clément Beaune, Sunday, on the set of the “
Grand rendez-vous
” of Europe 1 and CNEWS, adding that the scenario of a setting under guardianship was therefore "
not excluded
".
A request already made in 2021 by Rachida Dati, head of the first opposition group to the Council of Paris, who daily castigates the calamitous management of the capital's finances.
“
It is extremely serious and I do not wish it, it would be a last resort
”, continued Clément Beaune, inviting the mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo to “
take responsibility
”.
Emmanuel Grégoire, first deputy of the mayor of Paris, has already swept away this possibility by declaring that
"nothing justifies on the legal level to evoke the
" placing under supervision "
of the City of Paris".
Read alsoWhy the debt of the city of Paris is soaring
This threat has already been brandished for a long time by the Parisian branch of the Les Républicains parisiens party and by the “
Parisian Union
” collective, bringing together opponents of Anne Hidalgo, including the “Saccage Paris” group.
Galloping debt
What do Rachida Dati, Clément Beaune, Gabriel Attal and the many disgruntled Parisians blame the mayor of Paris for?
For the former government spokesperson, it is above all his "
calamitous
" management of the capital.
Asked about BFMTV this Sunday, Gabriel Attal accused Anne Hidalgo
of “very sharply increasing the taxes of Parisians”
to rebalance a shaky budget.
Read alsoAnne Hidalgo, bankruptcy announced
In less than 15 years, the public debt has gone from zero euros, under former mayor Bertrand Delanoë, to more than 7.7 billion currently.
“The figures are eloquent,
adds Clément Beaune.
There is a serious financial situation which is not, as Anne Hidalgo says, linked to Covid-19.
»
Can the City of Paris really be placed under guardianship?
Concretely, what would such a decision change?
And who would take the reins of the capital?
Administrative and financial control
The control of administrative and economic decisions taken by local authorities is a constitutional principle.
Article 72 of our Constitution provides as follows: “
In the territorial communities of the Republic, the representative of the State in charge of national interests, administrative control and respect for the laws.
Consequently, it is the prefect, “
representative of the government ministers
” who is responsible for monitoring the legality of administrative acts.
Since the decentralization law of 1982, we no longer speak of administrative supervision but of control over the territories, in order to guarantee "the free administration of the communities" vis-à-vis the capital.
Read alsoThe city of Paris soon to be placed under guardianship?
In the event of a dispute over an administrative act - which may range from the granting of a building permit to the renovation of a square, including the decoration of the Champs-Élysées - it is up to the prefect to examine it and then to refer to the Administrative Court of Paris.
The act may thus be annulled at the request of the judicial authority.
As for a conflict on the budget – which is the case for the current detractors of Anne Hidalgo – it is up to the Regional Chamber of Accounts of Ile de France to peel the accounts of the town hall at the request of the prefect.
And if the financial magistrates believe that the budget is not in real balance, they can, according to article L1612-5 of the Code of local authorities, ask the community to vote within thirty days on a new budget.
In the event of non-application by the town hall or the department, the prefect can then take over to straighten out finances at half mast.
Is such an initiative likely to succeed in Paris?
For Didier Truchet, professor emeritus of public law at the University of Paris
-
II Panthéon-Assas, the detractors of Anne Hidalgo have chosen "
a small window of entry
", while leaving the Regional Chamber of Accounts of the island of France the opportunity to form his own opinion, if the prefect uses his expertise to judge the financial management of the capital.
