The Senate voted during the night from Monday to Tuesday, as part of the measures to support purchasing power, the abolition of the television canon, after a lively debate – “rotten”, according to Roger Karoutchi (LR) – on the financing and broadcaster independence.

The Minister of Culture Rima Abdul Malak announced on this occasion “the government’s willingness to propose the extension for one year of the objectives and media contracts of public audiovisual companies.” This in order to “take the necessary time to build together the public broadcasting roadmap.” The vote was won by 196 votes against 147, during the first reading examination of the finance reform bill for 2022.

Worth €138 in mainland France and €88 abroad this year, the fee generated €3.2bn of the €3.8bn paid to public broadcasters. His removal from office is a campaign promise of re-elected candidate Emmanuel Macron. The text plans to allocate “a fraction” of VAT to public broadcasting, for an amount of around 3,700 million euros, to answer questions about its financing.

“Create the conditions for the weakening” of public broadcasting

The Senate approved an amendment by Rapporteur General Jean-François Husson (LR) to limit this allocation to December 31, 2024. Public Accounts Minister Gabriel Attal trusted the “wisdom” of the Senate on this point. The solution proposed by the National Assembly “can only be temporary”, said Jean-François Husson, who criticized the government for having “sent the final credits before the program starts”. “The truth is that we are still waiting for the audiovisual reform, with an in-depth debate”, insisted Roger Karoutchi.

All three left-wing groups unsuccessfully opposed abolition, with David Assouline accusing the government of “creating the conditions for the weakening” of public broadcasting. “We are very attached to public broadcasting and therefore to its financing”, affirmed the socialist Jean-Pierre Sueur, while he acknowledged that the license fee “is now obsolete”. Public broadcasting “is essential to contribute to the mission of independence” of information, added Pierre Ouzoulias (CRCE with a communist majority).