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- Clairvaux Abbey, which was due to benefit from an increase in the budget of the Ministry of Culture’s Heritage Mission
Photo: Prosopee (CC BY-SA 3.0) - See the image in its page
The Ministry of the Budget (obviously in collusion with the Élysée Palace) has just wiped €10 billion off France’s budget with the stroke of a pen, despite the fact that the budget was debated in Parliament just a few months ago, even though it was not actually voted on because it was adopted via the 49.3 procedure.
One of the worst cuts is to the heritage budget, where the Ministry of Culture proudly presented an 8% increase in September. This confirms once again what we have written on many occasions: budget announcements are not to be trusted at all, as they can be subsequently modified. Only the budget actually implemented, which is often only known once it has been achieved, can bear witness to a heritage policy. We already know, however, that the 2024 budget will be extremely poor.
Let there be no mistake: we are not claiming that the French State should not make savings. For years now, we’ve been wondering how anyone could live so far beyond their means. But competent leaders should have asked themselves this question a long time ago and carried out these cuts in a gradual, reasoned and reasonable manner. Instead, the government is acting in haste, reversing decisions taken only recently, which shows that we are really dealing with amateurs who are pursuing a policy of penny-pinching. Above all, if money is scarce, it must be well spent. 100 million is probably one hundredth of the cost of the Olympic Games, a national disaster that will take us years to recover from.
France’s heritage is once again being used as an adjustment variable, even though it is already underfunded and in a worrying state of disrepair. Some people are saying that this decision would mean the end of the President’s "at the same time" approach. On the contrary, it seems to us that it marks its apogee. So we’re going to " at the same time " save the country churches (see article), as Emmanuel Macron decided in September, and give up looking after them. Because not only is nothing being done to protect them further (what has become of the announced plan for better protection of these buildings?) but the few extra resources that were allocated to them are being cut. In fact, in her budget presentation, the previous minister, Rima Abdul-Malak, announced an additional €8 million "for local heritage". 8 million that no longer exists.
The Minister also announced that the State would be investing even more in "the conservation and renovation of major heritage sites throughout the country", pointing out that "any investment in the restoration of historic monuments is, in addition to the heritage consideration, a vector of activity, generates an economy and enables know-how to be passed on and sustainable and sober techniques of intervention to be developed". This will be done "at the same time" as doing nothing: the additional €55.5 million announced for this area has just been wiped out with the stroke of a pen.
Among the sites concerned (unless these funds are found by taking them from elsewhere, from other monuments) are the Clairvaux abbey-prison (ill.), the Château de Gaillon, Nantes cathedral, the Palais de la Cité, the Palais de la Porte Dorée and the quadrilatère des Archives (which could be good news in this case, since part of the restoration work involved destroying heritage - see article). Preventive archaeology was due to receive an additional €2.9 million. This has now been cancelled, as will the additional €4.7 million earmarked for digitisation of the old press...
The Ministry announced that the Bern mission had raised 230 million euros since its launch. Almost half of this sum will be taken away from the Heritage mission in 2024!
While these budget cuts apply to all ministries, they still represent a major setback for the new Minister of Culture, Rachida Dati, who is being deprived of some of her resources. We’d like to know what she thinks of this decision and what she can do about it. Let’s reiterate once again that there are ways of drastically increasing the funds earmarked for heritage, on a permanent basis and without touching the State budget: an increase of one euro per night in the tourist tax, and the creation of a 1.8% tax on Française des Jeux bets. We have detailed these measures several times, notably in our latest book on Notre-Dame and in this article. So far there has been no reaction from the Ministry of Culture.