Hello everyone, it’s Thursday, November 7th. You have been eagerly awaiting this news: the influencer law is finally ready to be implemented. The government presented an ordinance yesterday that makes this law compliant with European law. Published this morning in the Official Journal, it particularly states that French influencers residing in other European Union countries remain primarily subject to the law of that country. This significant detail was not part of the original text. The two deputies who initiated this, Arthur Delaporte (PS) and Stéphane Vojetta (EPR), expressed satisfaction with the changes.

Moving on to the topic of digitizing France. As budget discussions continue, the matter was bound to resurface. Senators yesterday held a hearing with the National Agency for Territorial Cohesion (ANCT) and the Arcep regarding the completion of the very high-speed plan for France, which is expected to see a significant budget reduction in 2025. Zacharia Alahyane, who is handling the matter at the ANCT, made it clear that the funding requests by the territories in 2025 will exceed the 200 million provided in the draft finance law.

However, state commitments to local authorities may not necessarily be challenged. As proof: in 2024, the fiber deployment did not suffer any budget cuts, mainly because financing needs were also declining. But, the official concedes, the cuts scheduled for 2025 will have a “cash impact that someone will have to bear.”

This maneuver upset Patrick Chaize. The LR Senator believes the government’s desired cut will not result in any savings for the public treasury. Simply because the burden the state no longer wants to bear will inevitably fall on local authorities, who will then need to borrow.

Two obstacles to consider. This budget reduction— which deputies are attempting to reverse this week— could complicate two already sensitive projects: the optical fiber coverage in Mayotte, and support for so-called “complex” connections, which require additional work from operators. A higher bill for individuals could reach nearly 1 billion euros, according to a report from Bercy published Tuesday. However, this report did not identify any “indisputable lever” that would allow the state to force the operators’ hand.

Decisions are impending. Bercy has envisioned four possible formats for supporting complex connections, funded alternately by the state, operators— via a tax increase—, or both. None of the scenarios have yet won the government’s favor, the Minister Delegate for Industry, Marc Ferracci, having just begun consulting operators. What is certain at the moment is that a budget of 16 million euros has been included in the draft finance law to conduct an experiment in 2025 and establish a more precise bill for these “complex connections.”