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Economic measures by local
public stakeholders in
Occitania
Executive summary
2022 Annual Public Report
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During the health crisis, local public stakeholders quickly wanted to contribute to the
general effort to support businesses and economic activity, by implementing their own
measures alongside those rolled out by the Government. While all this assistance has limited
the effects of the crisis, the structuring and relevance of the resources used by local
stakeholders warrant analysis. The recovery phase should be an opportunity to learn lessons
from this crisis by prioritizing solidly constructed actions with real added value in terms of
employment and economic growth.
Problematic coordination of measures by local public stakeholders
By creating the National Solidarity Fund (FSN) in March 2020, the Government wanted
to avoid a scattering of assistance granted by local public stakeholders. However, this attempt
to regulate support mechanisms did not prevent the emergence of local support mechanisms.
In its capacity as leader in terms of economic growth, in April 2020, the Occitania region
approved an emergency support package with an overall budget of approximately €394 million,
including €316 million for local economic stakeholders, ena
bling Occitania companies to
benefit from cash grants, loan facilities and investment subsidies.
In addition to its contribution to the FSN to the tune of €36.7 million, the region has
notably created two funds to support the economy, including the “L’Occal” fund, which it co
-
financed with the departments, intermunicipal authority for cooperation between local
stakeholders
(EPCI) and Banque des Territoires to the tune of €61.5 million.
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Typologies of Government and regional help
Source: Court of Accounts
Almost all Occitania departments have rolled out a strategy of circumventing their remit
in order to implement specific measures aimed at providing support to the local economy. Also,
just as on a national level, they were more heavily involved in terms of the economy compared
to 2019.
However, the contributions of local stakeholders may appear limited in view of the total
amount of assistance paid by the Government in Occitania (€2.9 billion under the FSN alone).
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It is difficult to establish the scope of all the measures taken by the Government, the
region, the departments and the EPCIs, these being, at times, difficult to coordinate, or even
redundant. Implementation of the L’Oc
cal fund also raises legal difficulties, insofar as it
constitutes an attempt to circumvent the regulations in force.
Ring-fenced funds offering stakeholders leeway to embark on recovery
Local public stakeholders had to make a complex adaptation of their budget forecasts
throughout 2020. Funds allocated to certain assistance measures have not been used in full.
This is the case of the L’Occal Fund, the level of use of which stood at arou
nd 50% in July
2021.
Discrepancy between budgeted amounts and allocated amounts for contributions to
the L’Occal Fund and help to businesses
Source: Occitania Regional Court of Accounts, based on regional data
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On a national level as in Occitania, the health crisis has had less impact on the financial
position of local stakeholders than initially envisaged. The moderate downgrading of the main
indicators available (debt reduction capacity and gross savings rate) thus means the region
and the departments have the financing capabilities necessary to contribute to the recovery.
The national strategy for reviving the economy is based in particular on a new approach
to contracts with local stakeholders which, for their part, intend to use mainly the leverage of
public procurement. However, given the relative weakness of previous levels of
implementation of their investments, the effectiveness of such a strategy is not guaranteed.
Recommendations
The Court makes the following recommendations to the local stakeholders of Occitania:
Secure the legal framework for measures (
departments
)
1.
ensure that the policies implemented fall within the remits defined by law;
Draw up a financial review of the measures organised during the crisis (
region,
departments, EPCIs
)
2.
in conjunction with the contributing departments, organise the repayment of contributions
to the L’Occal Fund that have not been used on their territory;
3.
monitor the ability of companies that have been helped to repay the advances allocated
to them under the aid and support schemes implemented during the crisis; where
applicable, record part payments;
Ensure the effectiveness of measures planned for the recovery phase (
region,
departments, EPCIs
)
4.
conduct an assessment prior to any recovery project to define its scope, the expected
results and evaluation indicators;
5.
draw up a report at the end of each recovery project.