Local authorities protest funding losses and budget cuts

French departmental representatives have announced a boycott of the Biodiversity Summits (Assises de la biodiversité) in Tours. The decision, led by the association Départements de France and its president François Sauvadet, is a protest against state-related malfunctions in the distribution of the 'taxe d'aménagement'. Officials claim hundreds of millions of euros intended for natural space preservation are being lost due to state errors, impacting the management of 4,300 sensitive natural areas across France.

In Switzerland, residents of Lancy (Geneva) voted to reject several proposed budget cuts for 2026. The electorate overturned measures to eliminate school start allowances, subsidies for soft mobility, and municipal contributions toward health insurance premiums for civil servants. While the decision will significantly impact the 2026 municipal accounts, the administration had already provisioned the funds in anticipation of a rejection.