Angers city council and business circles agree on the decrease of operating expenses

Le nouveau maire d'Angers Christophe Béchu a annoncé son intention de rencontrer les organisations d'employeurs et de salariés. L'une d'elles, le Medef Anjou, l'avait exhorté, par courrier avant le lancement de la campagne électorale, à baisser les dépenses. Le MEDEF Anjou sera apparemment entendu.

The new Angers mayor, Christophe Béchu, whose platform was based on economy and employment, had announced just before he took office, that he would meet the local trade unions and employers organizations in the first weeks of his term. Probably he had in mind the letter one of those sent him  (and to the eight other candidates) before the beginning of the electoral campaign. In that correspondence, the Medef Anjou president, Joel Freuchet, had put forward three points on which Christophe Béchu and his deputy mayors are now watched out : the regulatory simplification, the conditions for the growth of the Angers economy and, last but no least, the necessity to decrease tax pressure.

In order to achieve the third goal, it appears that the standpoints of Mr. Béchu and Mr. Freuchet converge. "The decrease of public expenses is a priority in order to lighten taxes on companies", wrote the Medef Anjou president who, apparently, has been listened to by the mayor who has just made public that the next session of the city council will be focused on a "plan for savings". Now, all will depend on the timing of the decisions the city council has to make and the dialog its mayor wants to have with employers delegates. Logically, that dialog should be started before the savings plan. The means for lowering local taxes are also a point of agreement because Mr. Freuchet suggests that the city organisation has to be redesigned. And Christophe Béchu made clear that he wished to think about simplifications of the territorial organizations.

If the Medef Anjou wants less operating expenses, it considers that "a good level of investments is necessary", but doesn't give figures. "The measures you will decide in town planning and fittings, will be primordial for the attractiveness of our territory", stresses Joël Freuchet. But in that field, Mr. Béchu disclosed that even the capital budget of the city would have to be monitored around 50-50 millions € and some of major projects planned by the previous city council could be postponed, down sized or even cancelled.

Regarding the regulations, it is not sure that Angers city, and other French towns, are their main origins. But the Medef Anjou notices that some of former mayors choose not to be candidate to a new term because of over regulations. And Mr. Freuchet refers to the British policy : "no new regulation without an old one suppressed".