In a decree published in the Official Journal on Thursday February 22, the government specifies the budget cuts announced by the Minister of the Economy. They mainly target ecology and rather spare education and the police.
2.13 billion euros cut from ecology, 1.1 billion euros less for work and employment and 904 million withdrawn from research and higher education… Budget cuts totaling 10 billion euros announced by the Minister of the Economy, Bruno Le Maire, due to a lower forecast growth rate than expected for 2024, were shared in the Official Journal on Thursday February 22, explains franceinfo.
Among the twenty-nine expenditure items affected by these savings, in proportion to what should have been allocated to them initially, the Sport, Youth and Community Life category is one of the most affected and shows a drop in its budget of 10%, losing 180 million of the 1.710 billion allocated to it. The budget devoted to the item Ecology, sustainable development and mobility is reduced by 9% compared to what was adopted in the 2024 finance law. In terms of amount, these are generally the items of expenditure linked to the ecology that have been hardest hit. The Government, which denies giving up “anything about its ambitions in terms of ecological transition”, has withdrawn more than 2 billion euros from them.
Conversely, the Security position, which includes the police and the gendarmerie, is avoiding drastic budget cuts. It lost less than 1% of its initial €25 billion budget, or €232 million. The position corresponding to first and second level public education as well as technical agricultural education was also fairly spared. Its budget is cut by 691 million from a budget of 87 billion, or minus 0.79%. In the long term, the impact of these budget cuts is not assured. Of the 10 billion savings wanted by the minister, 5 billion must still be found by the ministries themselves based on what was specified by this decree.
