Tariff shield, restaurant tickets… What’s in the newly adopted 2023 budget
GEOFFROY VAN DER HASSELT / AFP
Elisabeth Borne during the vote on the motions of protest tabled by RN and LFI in the Assembly on 31 October.
POLITICS – Five 49.3s later and as many criticisms, the 2023 budget is complete. This Saturday, December 17, Parliament passed the government’s finance bill, ending three months of often stormy debate at the Palais Bourbon.
The latest protest motion presented by NUPES was rejected in the National Assembly this Saturday, resulting in the 2023 budget being finally passed by Parliament.
On Thursday, December 15, Elisabeth Borne again assumed responsibility for her government over the entire text. “We have made progress – I want to congratulate them. But we also often saw that the door was closed. (…) France needs a budget for January 1, 2023. Time is running out now.”He justified the Prime Minister.
Since October 19, the head of government has used 49.3 5 times in the financial bill. During the same period, he used it five times for the social security funding project. Such a pace had not been seen since the fall of 1989, when Prime Minister Michel Rocard, like Elizabeth Bourne, was denied an absolute majority at the Palace of Bourbon after the June legislative elections.
The budget is based on the growth forecast “volunteer” 1% in 2023, higher than Banque de France forecasts. This is all the more controversial as Emmanuel Macron himself seems dubious: in early December he predicted that France was leaving. “Go from around 2.5% growth to 0.5 or 0.7 in 2023”. The government deficit is projected at 5% of GDP in 2023, with a target to return below 3% in 2027.
These measures affect the portfolio
Among the main measures, the text mentions the maintenance of the tariff shield on electricity and gas prices in 2023, in a less protective version than in 2022. Thus, the increase in regulatory tariffs will be limited to 15% (gas for January 1 and electricity for February 1). The net cost to the public deficit was initially estimated at 15 billion, before the government increased it by 6 billion to include new beneficiaries. “Collective housing structures” such as nursing homes or barracks.
The budget also provides for an increase in the ceiling of the tax credit for the cost of caring for a child under the age of 6, from 2,300 euros today to 3,500 euros. The maximum face value of meal tickets has been reduced from 11.84 euros to 13 euros. Additional tax half share applies to widows of all veterans. The fuel discount will be replaced by a compensation of one hundred euros reserved for the 10 million most humble workers.
Finally, a last-minute amendment by the government ensures financial participation for workers when they use their personal training account (CPF). The exact methods will be determined by decree.
On the side of National Education, a change in salaries increased by 10 percent “Accompanying students with disabilities” (AESH) was selected at the beginning of the academic year 2023.
Civil Service, Green Fund and superprofits
The enacted budget also calls for more than 10,000 additional civil servant positions for the state and its operators in 2023. These increases will mainly benefit the Ministry of Internal Affairs, “8500 police and gendarmerie posts” over five years and just over 2,300 full-time equivalent jobs have been allocated to the Ministry of Justice. The workforce within the Ministry of Defense will be strengthened with more than 1,500 new jobs, including “in the fields of intelligence and cyber defense”. The executive added an additional €10 million for the National Forestry Office (ONF), whose staff cuts have been suspended during discussions.
Despite the criticism, the government also continued the course of abolishing the contribution to the added value of companies (CVAE), spread over two years, with a loss of €8 billion in revenue. On the other hand, the government agreed to add one “safety net” for communities where energy costs will explode.
The budget also includes a €2bn Green Fund for local authorities to support the heating of public buildings, as well as a €250m cycling scheme. 1.3 billion euros have been allocated to support the greening of the car park. This includes measurement “social leasing”an electric car rental system designed for the least privileged households.
Finally, under pressure from the tax demanding left “super profit”, the government responded by moving an agreement between EU countries. It provides on the one hand “temporary solidarity contribution” gas, coal and oil producers and distributors. The government estimates its income at 200 million euros. The second component that plans to collect a part “annuity” energy companies should bring in 11 billion euros, according to the government’s latest estimate.
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