In accordance with a now common bad habit, it was in a document incomprehensible to the average voter that the outline of the State expenditure envisaged by the government for 2023 was transmitted on Monday August 8, 2022. It even was commented on in the newspaper ” The echoes “ by the Minister of Public accounts, Gabriel Attal, before the national representation is aware of it.
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More than 450 billion euros in state spending planned for 2023. © Infographie Ouest-France
Main point, budgetary sobriety will wait: the total of ministerial appropriations for 2023 reaches 450.3 billion. This is 12.7 billion more than the 2022 draft budget.
But as expenditure increased during 2022, Gabriel Attal can affirm that, compared to the final 2022 budget, the initial 2023 budget is stable, even if it is likely that it too will increase over time. month.
First beneficiary, the repayment of the debt, which increases by 16.1 billion to exceed 60 billion. The equivalent of the school education budget.
The latter is one of the winners of budgetary arbitrations, with 3.6 billion in bonuses. This is to honor Emmanuel Macron’s promise that no teacher will enter their careers at less than 2000 euros net per month.
The end of the recovery plan
Defense reaps 3 billion more, to reach 43.9 billion. Realization of Emmanuel Macron’s commitment that France devotes 2% of its GDP to its military expenditure, as required by NATO.
The other main winners are Solidarity (2.1 billion), Research and Higher Education (1.5), Security (1.4), Ecology (1.3) and Justice (700 million). Health captures only 100 million more, but most of its funding will come from the specific budget for Social Security.
Almost no department is experiencing a cut in appropriations. The only big notch, 8.6 billion from the recovery plan not renewed.
The increase in spending in 2023 comes as the Court of Auditors, the High Council of Public Finances et l’agence Fitch have just, in a few weeks, highlighted the government’s lack of budgetary control at a time when inflation and interest rates are soaring.
This document is only a sketch that does not include details of expenditure or revenue, and therefore taxes. We will only get into the hard part with the finance bill (PLF). It should give rise to a parliamentary debate alongside which those we have just witnessed will have been only a warm-up.
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