Local government spending partly boosted by approaching municipal elections, according to the Court of Auditors

They are among the culprits identified by the government for their contribution to the slippage of public finances . Along with those of the State and Social Security, local authority spending increased faster than expected in 2024. "The public finance programming law for the years 2023 and 2027, on the contrary, planned to involve them in their recovery," recalls the Court of Auditors in its annual report on local public finances published this Friday, June 27.

So much so that last year, the financing requirement of local authorities, which amounted to 11.4 billion euros (or 0.4% of GDP), became the highest in percentage terms since 2008. According to the Court, the balance of local authorities is worse in total by 8.5 billion euros than predicted by the