Interview. "The State should manage its finances like us": Laurent Wauquiez encourages Sébastien Lecornu to follow the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes model

Laurent Wauquiez , do you have any advice for the new Prime Minister, Sébastien Lecornu , on how to manage the finances of the country whose rating has just been downgraded ?

"What I want above all is to highlight what we have achieved in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. When we took over the region [in 2016, editor's note], our rating was one notch below that of France. Today, it is two notches above. And I think we could learn lessons from this. The State should manage its finances as we have done, by following ideas that are based on common sense. Except that common sense only comes if we have clear ideas."

So what are these lessons?

"First, set a clear and understandable commitment. We must say: 'Yes, we will make savings, but in return, there will be no tax increase.' That's what we did to the Region, the promise we kept. The problem in France is that we tell the French that we will make savings, but that it will change nothing for them, that they will continue to see their taxes increase and their purchasing power decrease. As a result, the contract that has been signed is incomprehensible and therefore cannot be accepted."

The other lessons?

"Trace down complexity: stop the proliferation of useless agencies, simplify the procedures imposed by administrative bureaucracy. These agencies represent 80 billion euros of public money for the State! And meanwhile, we are cutting the most essential public services. This is no longer possible."

So what should we do?

"In Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, we drastically reduced the number of agencies, but we didn't close a single high school, for example. We also reduced our international cooperation, while at the same time increasing our budget dedicated to the health of our fellow citizens. We have to be able to make choices. We also stopped funding welfare."

Welfare? But from what budgets? The Region doesn't deal with social issues...

"For example, we stopped funding training that served no purpose. You know, the ones intended for those who never return to work."

And how does it work?

"When we took over the Region, our employees didn't work 35 hours. We reinstated the 35-hour week for everyone, and today, we're even offering them the chance to work up to 39 hours, but with more pay. This has nothing to do with the two public holidays worked for free, which were proposed recently."

But it might be a little more complicated at the state level...

"What's needed is just courage. Yes, in the Region, when we cut subsidies to certain cultural venues, it caused a stir. But if we want to save money, we have to make choices and explain them."

How do we explain them?

"We just tell the French that the debt isn't the biggest problem. That the real problem is the interest on this debt that we have to pay every year, and that will exceed the budget allocated to our children's education. We just have to explain that paying more and more interest only enriches financial speculators. Finally, we have to tell the French that it is possible to straighten out their finances, that it's not inevitable."

You're going to run for Minister of Economy, right?

"The only thing to do is to define what you want to do. It's not the casting that matters."