The financial jurisdiction places Gironde under reinforced surveillance after having judged its budget deficit “excessive”, an unprecedented situation for a departmental community.
The Regional Chamber of Accounts (CRC) of Nouvelle-Aquitaine has judged the budget deficit of the Gironde department for the 2025 financial year to be “excessive”, a first for a departmental community. This observation, made public on July 16, marks the opening of an exceptional procedure which now places Gironde finances under increased surveillance and could, in the long term, lead to the State taking control of their preparation. The operating deficit of the Gironde department for 2025 is thus the first deficit deemed “excessive” by a CRC for a departmental community in France.
At the origin of this decision, the prefect of Nouvelle-Aquitaine had referred the matter to the CRC in application of article L.1612-14 of the General Code of Local Authorities. This system provides that in the event of a deficit greater than 5% of operating revenue for communities of this size, the regional chamber of accounts is responsible for proposing the measures necessary to restore budgetary balance.
A reassessed deficit and contested practices
The investigation carried out by the CRC confirms a “very degraded” financial situation. The department had initially closed its accounts on a deficit of around 38.5 million euros. But the financial magistrates made several accounting rectifications, in particular by reintroducing operating expenses which should have been linked to the 2025 financial year, mainly in the field of social policies.
After these corrections, the deficit retained by the chamber reached 142.4 million euros. Relative to operating revenues, it amounts to 6.97%, beyond the legal threshold of 5% triggering the excessive deficit procedure.
The community, however, disputes this analysis. She believes that the CRC is asking her to recognize “14 months of RSA and 13 months of social benefits” in the same financial year, while the corresponding revenue only covers twelve months. For several years, the department has acknowledged having postponed certain social expenditures to the following financial year due to cash flow constraints, a practice which the chamber is now asking to put an end to in order to respect the principle of budgetary annuality.
Long-term recovery prospects
According to the magistrates, no additional measures can be proposed this year without calling into question the exercise of the community’s compulsory powers, particularly in the social field.
The chamber therefore recommends continuing the recovery over several financial years. It recommends in particular limiting investments to essential operations, giving priority to the safety of property and people, to projects which are already the subject of legal commitments or whose postponement would increase the cost, such as certain works on the departmental road network. It also calls for gradually reducing the outstanding debt, which reached 1.23 billion euros at the end of 2025.
Given the scale of the deficit, aggravated by the integration of unrelated expenses, the CRC judges that a return to operating surpluses cannot reasonably occur before the end of the 2029 financial year. According to Vincent Léna, president of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine Regional Chamber of Accounts, this procedure is “totally unprecedented for a department”.
Reinforced surveillance
From 2027, Gironde’s budgets must either be validated by the CRC, or, failing that, be approved by the prefecture, a situation comparable to being placed under budgetary supervision.
The department ensures that it is continuing its plan to return to balance and hopes to redress its situation by 2028. Its socialist president, Jean-Luc Gleyze, continues to denounce the financial disengagement of the State, believing that the insufficient compensation for social expenditure, in particular the RSA, weighs heavily on the finances of the community.
