Will the good accounts of state operators be used to pay off the abyssal French debt? It is, in any case, a track put forward by the Ministry of Economy and Finance. Bercy intends to dig into the surplus accounts of these players in order to bail out the public portfolio. And Bruno Le Maire intends to get his hands on this loot from 2024. The next finance law, presented next September, should include a section aimed at “recovering half” of the “abundant cash” of state operators, whose surplus is estimated at 2.5 billion euros, said the minister on Tuesday.
Defined by the Ministry of the Budget as “organizations separate from the State, with public or private legal status, to which a public service mission of the State is entrusted”, these operators are, for example, Pôle emploi, Météo France, the CNRS or even INSERM. At first glance, it is difficult to understand where the organization responsible for supporting the unemployed and the some 437 other French operators would generate money from. But the jackpot is very real, as shown by the “assessment of the quality of public action” carried out by Bercy.
Transmitted to Parliament on Monday, this document consulted by Le Figaro “notably notes the ineffective tax expenditures likely to be eliminated”. And, according to the General Inspectorate of Finance (IGF), “operators (of the State) totaled €56.6 billion in cash at the end of 2022, compared to €33.8 billion at the end of 2019. A sharp increase in cash since 2019, under the effect of the crisis and the recovery plan”. The latter particularly underline “a potential cash surplus estimated at 2.5 billion euros on the cash declared as unmarked and mobilizable”. A sum that could be subtracted from these organizations without affecting their operation or development in any way. Especially since the IGF “recommends streamlining the supervision of operators” via “the tools of budgetary control”.
To understand the origin of these surplus accounts, it is necessary to consider the mode of financing of the operators. If Bruno Le Maire explained this good budgetary health by “assigned taxes, therefore meaning revenue security, and support for the recovery plan in addition”, the minister omits ordinary public financing. An appendix to the 2023 finance law explains that their financing is “provided mainly by the State directly in the form of subsidies or indirectly via allocated resources, in particular tax. This does not exclude the possibility for the operator to carry out commercial activities on a subsidiary basis”. They therefore receive a subsidy for public service charges (SCSP) intended to cover their day-to-day operating expenses such as operations and staff.
“In 2023, the 438 state operators will benefit from a total of 76.60 billion euros in public funding, in the form of subsidies for public service charges, subsidies for investment charges, equity allocations, transfers and earmarked taxes,” summarizes the document. In detail, the five operators most benefiting from SCSP are universities and similar (12.274 billion euros), the CNRS (2.968 billion euros), the CEA (1.814 billion euros), France Skills (1.68 billion euros) and finally Pôle emploi (1.250 billion euros).
If the coffers are overflowing today, it may be due to effective budget management. Pôle emploi is a good student, according to the Court of Auditors. In their report on “the management of Pôle emploi, ten years after its creation” published in 2020, the Elders of rue Cambon welcome “positive results for all years, except 2012 and 2016 […]. The self-financing capacity generated amounts to more than one billion euros over the period”, indicate the authors. A good result obtained in particular thanks to the cuts made to non-staff operating expenses, which “after having increased quite clearly until 2016, decreased until 2018, falling over the whole period, by 1.8% (- €16.4 million), while the workforce increased by 5.3%, as well as activity (training plans, etc.)”. So much so that among the recommendations of the Elders on the governance of Pôle emploi is only this one: “Improve the methods of informing the board of directors”. No comment, therefore, on budget management.
Good results can also come from income generated by commercial activities. At the Office National des Forêts, “the net result after tax, for 2022, stands at 53 million euros”, an improvement compared to 2021. 2021”.
But good budget management and flourishing market activities do not explain everything. Operators’ cash surplus can also come from oversized state subsidies. In any case, this is what the finance inspectors believe, who believe that in the “short term, the finance law must in certain cases adjust the direct and indirect financing of the State to operators to reduce surpluses”.
