Mayors expect Emmanuel Macron to act after speeches

Local elected officials will be able to meet Emmanuel Macron at the big rout of the Association of Mayors of France (AMF), which opens this Tuesday at the Parc des expositions de la Porte de Versailles, in Paris. But not at 104^e Congress of Mayors…

Because the Head of State has chosen to go instead to the Salon des Maires, in the neighboring pavilions for a “wandering” between the stands of the 1,200 exhibitors. A way to have “direct and strong contact” with elected officials and to meet those “who offer innovative solutions”, explained the Elysée on Monday.

For once, the President of the Republic will leave it to the Prime Minister, Elisabeth Borne, to deliver the closing speech of the Congress on Thursday afternoon. But like other years, he will receive the evening before a thousand mayors at the Elysée.

Relations “rather peaceful”

This Congress opens when relations between the Head of State and the communities seem to have taken a new turn in recent months after having been generally very complicated during his first five-year term. They are “rather peaceful”, we welcome at the Elysée.

David Lisnard, the president of the AMF, notes, him, a change of speech “to 180°” of the head of the State on the decentralization, a site which this last put on the table. “I find that the Prime Minister has a way of working that is more respectful of intermediary bodies, in partnership with the AMF, much more than her two predecessors. [Edouard Philippe et Jean Castex, NDLR]. Afterwards, we will see the actions “, also said Monday morning the mayor LR of Cannes on Public Senate.

The executive is in any case expected at the turn because there is no shortage of hot topics. Starting with the energy crisis which weighs down the budgets of local authorities. Before the Congress, the Elysée wishes to “reassure” the mayors of France “by affirming that the State was indeed at “their side” to “help them overcome this obstacle”, citing the various measures provided for in the bill. de finances (PLF) currently being examined in the Senate: the “electricity shock absorber”, the “safety net” or the first increase in thirteen years in the budget for the overall operating grant (+320 million euros ).

On this endowment, David Lisnard, who claims its indexation on inflation, speaks of “communicational bluff”. “I think the government is wrong to repeat this language because it annoys the mayors,” he said.

Expenditure control

Another measure, which is likely to animate the debates in the Senate on the PLF, does not pass in the local communities: the device of supervision of their expenses which was reintroduced in the National Assembly via the 49.3. “The commitment made was on the absence of a return to the so-called Cahors contracts [qui limitaient la progression des dépenses de fonctionnement des 321 plus grandes collectivités sous le premier quinquennat, NDLR]. The reality is an even more violent Cahors device […] which undermines the constitutional principle of free administration of communities, ”regrets David Lisnard, who evokes discussions to find a compromise.

The chairman of the AMF also repeated that it would have been better to abolish the social solidarity contribution of companies (C3S) rather than the contribution on the added value of companies (CVAE). Monday this measure was removed unexpectedly in the Senate during the examination of the PLF. The Minister in charge of Public Accounts, Gabriel Attal, immediately indicated that the government would propose to reinstate the abolition of the CVAE, when the text was returned to the National Assembly in December.