The French government is considering the abolition of the Broadcasting fee. Budget Minister Gérald Darmanin suggested on Friday in Paris, the fee for TV and radio devices in the house to abolish. He wants to relieve the burden on the taxpayer. The licence fee in France is 139 euros per year per household.
Darmanin told the TV station RMC, he had proposed to President Emmanuel Macron and Prime Minister Edouard Philippe, the abolition of the licence fee, since it was difficult to communicate. He pointed out that the levy is currently subject to the residential tax for tenants and property owners, the Macrons government wants to swipe up to 2022.
skepticism about state funding
Skeptical about the initiative of culture Minister Franck Riester said. “We need a strong public broadcasting,” he said in the channel France Bleu. There must be, therefore, a financing, the “independence from politics”. In the past year, the licence fee brought in € 3.2 billion for public broadcasters such as the group France Télévisions, Radio France and Arte.
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the Future of the broadcasting contribution index model – Yes or no?
Joachim Huber
In France, there is hardly any public debate about the licence fee. In Germany, the topic has, however, been for years in the courts. In December, the European court of justice in Luxembourg ruled in a lawsuit by German citizens that the broadcasting contribution fee is right. Similarly, had ruled in July 2018, the Federal constitutional court. The tax is in Germany on a monthly basis 17,50 Euro per apartment. Currently, the Ministers are discussing the President, according to the model, the contribution amount will be fixed. In the conversation is to link it to the inflation rate. (with AFP)
