“This five-year term begins objectively in a very different way” than the previous one, marked by strong tensions between the communities and the executive, recognizes the PS president of Occitanie, before the congress of Regions of France Thursday and Friday in Vichy ( Allier).
President Emmanuel Macron received last week the main associations of elected officials at the Elysee Palace and undertook to review them twice a year, while Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne, who is due to speak on Friday in Vichy, has already received them. met several times at Matignon.
The president «has learned from his mistakes (…) and there is now a need to work differently with local elected officials with a relative majority in Parliament», assures Ms. Delga, who expects that «these first intentions of constructive work be confirmed by actions».
– «We ask for proof of support» –
«We are asking Ms. Borne to have the means to act, in order to respond to the disarray of French men and women and to the ecological emergency», she explains, recalling in particular that the soaring prices of energy is undermining regional budgets, particularly in transport and construction.
“In particular, there is the cost of fuel which heavily affects school transport, or the financing of the train whose economic model is in danger, while its development is essential to fight against global warming. For 2023, concerning pricing on the railway, we cannot hold without exceptional endowment», warns the president of Occitanie.
“We are ready to do our part, but ask for evidence of support for a massive public investment effort from the state side,” she adds.
Faced with the Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire, who is asking communities to make efforts to restore public finances from next year, Ms. Delga replies that «the regions have already done them», recalling in passing that the public deficit is «of made by state bodies» and not regions whose «debt is under control».
«I want the specific financial situation of the regions to be taken into account. Our investments increased by 21% between 2019 and 2021, but so did our operating expenses», she underlines.
«However, unlike other communities, in 2022, our allocations from the State have fallen by 50 million. With this scissor effect, our self-financing capacity is less than two years ago», assures the elected PS. «We cannot continue to ask more of those to whom we give less».
– «Leaving the field» –
Ms. Delga, who has made decentralization her hobbyhorse since her arrival at the head of Regions of France a year ago, hopes during the five-year term for «a major law which really creates a revolution in the relationship between the State and communities».
«We are waiting for a new era of decentralization, so that we can have a principle of subsidiarity which is reversed. In other words, when there is a problem, we first look at whether local authorities can act», specifies she.
But in the meantime, Ms. Delga pleads for «rapid acts» in sectors such as employment, training, energy or even energy renovation and reindustrialization.
In his eyes, a way of «fighting against social determinism, the glass ceiling», but also against the push of the National Rally during the presidential and legislative elections, especially in rural areas.
«Local anchoring is the best dam against the far right», she assures, citing the example of Renaud Muselier, ex-LR president of the PACA region, who won against a candidate from the RN, thanks to the withdrawal of the left.
After the disappointments of the PS in the presidential election, Ms. Delga said she was convinced that this «anchoring can be useful for us to rebuild our party. We must start from the ground».