“It is neither normal nor fair to show the municipalities as responsible for the deficit” | EUROtoday

Invited to talk on the closing of 106^e congress of mayors of France, Thursday November 21, the Prime Minister, Michel Barnier, assured that he was not “not normal or fair to show municipalities and local authorities as if they were responsible for the deficit; That’s not true.” Recalling that he needed to compose a finances in two weeks, Mr. Barnier acknowledged that this textual content was not “not perfect” and that it included “sometimes there are injustices or points to review”. The municipalities “are an element of stability, a reference, a benchmark for our compatriots”defended the Prime Minister, assuring that it was “first of all it is up to the State to assume responsibility for the current deficit”.

Wishing to provide “more freedom and greater room for maneuver” to the roughly 10,000 elected officers current, Michel Barnier introduced on Wednesday that he supported a rest of the implementation of “zero net artificialization of soils” (ZAN); he specified the timetable in his speech on Thursday. “We will work to ensure that these new provisions are operational from the first half of 2025”he declared.

The Prime Minister, nonetheless, recalled that it was not a query ” not [d’]abandon the goal » of the ZAN, but of the“adapt when necessary to achieve this objective”. The flagship measure of the bill carried by senators Jean-Baptiste Blanc (Les Républicains) and Guislain Cambier (Centrist Union) still intends to remove an intermediate objective aimed at halving the rate of artificialization during the 2021 decade -2031 compared to the previous decade.

“The State must not impose anything”

The government also relaunched the “Beauvau” of municipal police on Thursday, aiming to broaden the prerogatives of these police officers, unchanged for twenty-five years. This “Beauvau”, initiated by the former Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin and bringing together elected officials and unions, must result in a proposed law in 2025. Among the possible new prerogatives of municipal police officers is the possibility of establishing by trial verbal offenses for simple offences, to identify the identity of a suspect, to search the trunks of vehicles, to access more national files, or even to be equipped with drones or means of de-encirclement.

In front of the mayors, the Secretary of State for Daily Security, Nicolas Daragon, himself a councilor of Valence, insisted on the importance of the principle of free administration of municipalities. “It is up to the mayors to decide what concerns staff, prerogatives or equipment” of their municipal police, he assured. “There will be no obligation. » “The State must not impose anything”insisted the minister and mayor, indicating that the objective was to provide mayors with a “toolbox” from which each elected official will be able to draw. “We live in an increasingly violent society”supported the Minister of the Interior, Bruno Retailleau. “No territory is spared, in cities and in rural areas”.

The mayor of Antibes, Jean Leonetti, warned of a possible “charge transfer that does not say its name” from the national police to the municipal police. “We do not want a disguised and uncompensated transfer of burden”also pointed out David Lisnard, mayor of Cannes and president of the Association of Mayors of France (AMF). Points of tension have emerged on various subjects, including the extension of judicial police powers to municipal police officers. These extensions would remain limited to simple actions, not requiring investigative actions, assured Benoit Daragon.

At the close of the congress of mayors, Michel Barnier also spoke of the threats of censorship brandished by the left and the far right. “The time I have ahead of me depends on a possible coalition of opposites, if I may say so, in the National Assembly. I don’t know if this will happen. I’m ready for it. I know that this is not what the French want, who today want stability, serenity”declared the Prime Minister.