A press conference that looks like a settling of accounts.
This Wednesday morning, Emmanuel Grégoire presented the main orientations of the initial 2023 budget of the City of Paris alongside Paul Simondon, deputy (PS) in charge of finance.
Anne Hidalgo's first socialist deputy made a preamble to recall "the somewhat particular context" in which this exercise is taking place this year.
In the background, accusations of mismanagement and threats of guardianship brandished by certain members of the government in the media.
“Dangerous threats to democracy”
The mayor of the capital counter-attacked last week, announcing that the City "was filing a defamation complaint" against Gabriel Attal.
The day before, the Minister of Public Accounts, to whom we lend views on the town hall of Paris in 2026, had once again denounced the state of the finances of the community on France Inter.
He even went so far as to compare the derogation enjoyed by the City for capitalized rents to the “Ponzi scheme”, a type of fraudulent financial arrangement.
Clément Beaune, the Minister Delegate for Transport to whom rumor also lends ambitions for Paris, hit the nail on the head this Sunday on Europe 1 by not excluding placing the capital under guardianship.
A possibility denied a little later in the day by… Gabriel Attal in the program "BFM Politique", in partnership with Le Parisien - Today in France.
Even if the Minister of Public Accounts once again insisted on the “calamitous management of the City”.
Read also Municipal: Clément Beaune, Emmanuel Grégoire… the battle of Paris, they are all already thinking about it!
“There is a very great gravity in staging the supervision of the City of Paris for electoral objectives, annoys Emmanuel Grégoire, this Wednesday.
These are dangerous democratic threats.
“Because the first deputy hammers it:” the finances of the City are healthy “.
He wants proof of this in the 876 million euros of operating surplus or the debt reduction capacity of Paris which is 9 years, “where the government indicates that it should not exceed 12 years”.
“Our situation makes many communities green with envy”
There remains a debt which has increased considerably in recent years, going from 4.18 billion euros in 2014 to 7.75 billion euros in 2022. “It's called investment, retorts Emmanuel Grégoire.
And we can document precisely what that money was used for.
We have built hundreds of crèches, schools, cultural facilities and social housing.
Under Chirac, there was perhaps no debt but there was no equipment either.
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The elected official quotes in particular the 44 billion euros of heritage reached by the City.
"We get rich faster than the borrowing rate," he says.
Our financial situation is the envy of many communities.
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To complete the budget, Anne Hidalgo had to give up on one of her campaign promises.
The mayor had to resolve to increase the property tax, which will go from 13.5% to 20.5%.
A “difficult choice” but necessary, according to Emmanuel Grégoire, who insists on the heavy consequences of the pandemic, the war in Ukraine and the energy crisis.
“We had proposed other measures to the government such as increasing the tourist tax which is very low in Paris, he adds.
But all were refused.
“With this increase, the property tax remains, according to him, “two times lower than the national average”.
And exemptions should be possible for “precarious owners” or those who have their homes renovated.