The French government will propose combining or eliminating a third of government agencies by the end of the year in a bid to save money, the public accounts minister said on Sunday.
“We will, by the end of the year, propose in the budget that a third of state-backed agencies and operators that are not universities are merged or eliminated,” Amelie de Montchalin, the public accounts minister, said in an interview with French broadcaster CNews/Europe 1.
Prime Minister Francois Bayrou’s government has sought to cut the public sector budget deficit from 5.4% of economic output this year to 3%, the European Union’s ceiling, in 2029.
And this after the most recent election saw the left take the largest share of the votes because the neoliberals’ rule lead to gains by fascists. Elections be damned, failed governments be damned, just keep trying more neoliberalism.
If we don’t save this way our public services, we allow a future intervention by the EU, and seeing what they did in Greece last time. We’re better off doing things slowly without people loosing their jobs rather than the IMF and Bruxelles cutting through our social contract.
There are multiple ways to balance a budget, but the conservatives only ever want to cut services, because that’s the outcome preferred by the rich. And regardless, a minority government really shouldn’t be trying to fundamentally reshape government structure. If you want to have that level of change, win an election.
This is working out fucking great in the US, so totally do this, France
At least they give it a year, instead of just chainsawing it. That said a year is still very fast, if they did it over 5-10 years that would be right.
Or you know, maybe do it in a data-driven and iterative manner, with rollback options if part of the plan diverges sharply from predictions? Think of it like devops: if you’re doing your job right, you will ALWAYS have a rollback plan as a part of your migration/upgrade plan.
From an American who is watching this happen to my own country: you don’t want this. Nobody sane wants this.
A carefully planned and executed action could be good (I don’t know France well enough to comment for sure there) but doing it right would likely take years.
What’s happening in the US is tragic and haphazard (and likely illegal, but fat lot of good that designation does these days).
Oh here we go again…
Doing so would save two to three billion euros, she said.
I can think of no other effects to worry about! Stop asking her about other potential effects!
