05/06/2014
Hollande is facing new pressures to reduce public deficit
Reducing the number of regions provides 14 billion dollars for the French budget
Michel Saban French Finance Minister said today that ' planned reforms to reduce the number of French territories around half will achieve considerable saving in expenditure next year at the earliest, at a time when Europe is pressing his Government to accelerate the pace of economic reform. According to the «Reuters» Socialist leader Francois hollande is pressing to speed up the process of redrawing the administrative map of the country, officials have said ' it might provide the State with up to 10 billion euros (14 billion dollars) over the next three years. The move came at a time when Holland who had defeats in local and European elections new pressure from the European Commission to prove that he can cut the public deficit to 3 percent of GDP by 2015 and further structural reforms. Les Echos newspaper quoted Finance Minister Michel Saban as saying ' we're going to draw a map of France '.
He said that the reform will help us gain credibility especially with respect to our European partners about the 50 billion euros provided by 2017 although this is only a small part '. And the 22 regions of France-with the exception of five foreign territories will not be covered by the amendments-smaller than the number of German territories and supervised by local governments on building schools and infrastructure investment budget is financed through its own taxes along with funding from Central Government. Saban said that cost savings are likely to start next year will see that 14 amendments will decrease in spending available '. Did not confirm the value of the saved expenses could reach 10 billion euros, according to the official, this week. But reform faces intense political opposition and Government approval through a referendum. The Government aims to pass the amendments in November after a brief discussion in Parliament.
