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BUDGET

French lawmakers lose perks in austerity drive

France, facing a €30 billion gap in public finances, announced its latest austerity move Tuesday with the parliamentary budget frozen for five years and lawmakers' expenses cut by 10%.

Published: 25 September 2012 15:29 CEST
French lawmakers lose perks in austerity drive
Photo: Chris Waits

National Assembly president Claude Bartolone from President Francois Hollande's Socialist party said he wanted a parliament that was "more exemplary, more open and more useful" as he announced the budget freeze.

"For the duration of the presidency, I am outlining the principle of 'not a euro more' for the National Assembly's budget," he told reporters.

Hollande, who took power in May, warned French citizens they would have to make the biggest budget sacrifices in a generation, with €30 billion ($38 billion) in savings needed to meet France's obligation to reduce the public deficit to the EU limit of three percent of GDP next year.

The new government has already cut the salaries of the president, prime ministers and ministers by 30%.

Bartolone said first-class train travel for lawmakers was now a thing of the past as well as business-class travel for flights under five hours.

He also said the legislature's car fleet would now include hybrids and electric cars.

French lawmakers get €6,412 a month for expenses in addition to a net salary of €5,189.

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ECONOMY

Sweden boosts spending on civil defence in spring budget

Sweden is to channel a further 800 million kronor to local government and other organisations to bolster Sweden's civil defence capabilities, the country's finance minister has announced.

Published: 19 April 2022 09:11 CEST
Sweden boosts spending on civil defence in spring budget

The new funding, which will go to municipalities, regional government, and other organisations, was announced of part of the country’s spring budget, announced on Tuesday. 

“This will strengthen our ability to resist in both war and peace,” Sweden’s finance minister, Mikael Damberg, said in a press conference. “If the worst happens, it’s important that there is physical protection for the population.” 

The government is channelling 91m kronor towards renovating Sweden’s 65,000 bomb shelters, and will also fund the repair the country’s network of emergency sirens, known as Hesa Fredrik, or Hoarse Fredrik, many of which are currently out of order. 

A bomb shelter in Stockholm. Sweden’s government is spending 800m kronor in its spring budget to boost civil defence. Photo: Anders Wiklund/ TT

Sweden’s Social Democrats are currently ruling on the alternative budget put together by the right-wing opposition, making this spring budget, which makes changes to the autumn budget, unusually important. 

The budget includes extra spending of some 31.4 billion kronor (€299m), with 500m kronor going to extra spending on healthcare,  and 10.3 billion kronor going towards supporting Ukrainian refugees, of which nine billion will come from the aid budget. 

The spring budget also includes the so called “pension guarantee bonus”, or garantitillägg, which will see four billion kronor (€390m) going to those with the lowest pensions. 

The bonus, which was the price the Left Party demanded for letting Magdalena Andersson take her place as prime minister, risks being voted down by the right-wing parties in the parliament. 

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