The city of Paris adopts its 2025 budget, amid strong criticism from the opposition

Mayor Anne Hidalgo's latest full-year budget provides for €11,5 billion in spending, including €1,75 billion in investments, a slight decrease compared to 2024.

The finance law adopted in February by Parliament, which calls for a contribution of 2,2 billion euros from local authorities, has "taken" 275 million euros from the city's finances, the socialist mayor lamented, denouncing an "unprecedented shock" for France's largest local authority.

The city wants to offset these revenue losses, notably by drawing on its strategic reserves, but "without touching the heart of public services or weakening solidarity measures," including aid for families (canteen prices, children's Navigo passes, etc.), assured Paul Simondon, the deputy finance minister.

The final 2025 budget was adopted after heated debates during which the opposition pointed out a €120 million "hole" in the 2024 administrative accounts, accusing the municipal majority of having "hidden the seriousness" of this financial situation during the examination of the initial budget last December.

LR Senator Marie-Claire Carrère-Gée, chair of the Finance Committee, has asked the prefect of the Île-de-France region to refer the matter to the Regional Audit Office for "insincerity."

"You continue to deny the catastrophe and blame the state for the consequences of your mismanagement. It's a safe bet that your 2025 budget will be marred by the same deficit as in 2024," criticized Rachida Dati (LR), Minister of Culture and Mayor of the 7th arrondissement.

The deficit has forced the government to borrow nearly a billion euros, which, according to Maud Gatel (MoDem), will cause the city's debt to "explode," reaching a cumulative total of 9,3 billion euros by 2025.

According to the elected official, the town hall overestimated its revenue by relying on "erroneous" forecasts of real estate transaction taxes (DMTO), without taking into account the downturn in the real estate market.

As a result, laments François Boulard, the LR mayor of the 17th arrondissement, the municipality is "sacrificing" local projects, such as the "garden streets" voted on in March by Parisians, the financing of which is "still not planned."

Anne Hidalgo highlighted the city's "voluntary investments" that "have reduced greenhouse gas emissions by more than a third in 20 years," with riverbanks, children's streets, and the transformation of the ring road. "The 2024 Olympic Games have accelerated these transformations, and the budgets have been kept to," she replied.