Culture budget decreasing: Its going to be extremely difficult, admits the minister, who will try to scrape together some additional subsidies

“I am here to make this year useful,” said the Minister of Culture, who arrived at the end of February to replace Rachida Dati, despite a budget cut of over 173 million euros.

Facing the decline in the Culture budget, “it is obvious that it will be extremely difficult because we must participate in the common effort,” admitted the Minister of Culture Catherine Pégard on France Inter on Monday, March 30. The budget allocated to Culture in 2026 decreased by 173.4 million euros – out of a total budget of 3.7 billion euros – compared to last year (excluding audiovisual).

Catherine Pégard is already working on the 2027 budget and “trying to convince” her colleagues “of the importance of maintaining this budget, of safeguarding as much as possible,” meaning “no additional cuts, of course, and even try to secure some additional subsidies that we urgently need,” explained the new minister.

Having arrived at the end of February to lead the Ministry of Culture in place of Rachida Dati, Catherine Pégard has just over a year in office to act, and without a parliamentary majority. But “nostalgia or regrets have never made a project,” she asserted. “I am here to make this year useful.”

Among the issues on the table is that of public broadcasting. Her predecessor Rachida Dati failed to pass her flagship reform of public broadcasting, which aimed to merge France Télévisions, Radio France, and the INA into a holding company. When asked about this, Catherine Pégard believes that the idea of this holding should not be abandoned, but it is not a priority for the coming months. For now, her “mission is to continue consultations, resume dialogue, and set a new ambition for the public service.”

“I believe that, instead of questioning the structures on which, clearly, we struggle to find a consensus today, we must think about improving the functioning of the public service and ensuring that the public service, which is our common good, supported by all of us, can face new transformations of society,” the Minister of Culture explained.

Catherine Pégard was also questioned about the parliamentary investigative commission on public broadcasting, whose work has been ongoing since late November in a often tense atmosphere. For the minister, “there are times when boundaries are crossed in the way these debates are conducted.” “As soon as I see places where people are insulting each other in this way, I think we are not promoting democracy or respectful interactions,” she added.