Charles Alloncle’s report on public broadcasting, published on May 5, 2026, on the National Assembly website, has sparked sharp controversy. France Télévisions’ president and the Prime Minister criticized it, while La France insoumise proposes reinstating the TV license fee. A complaint for illegal interest-taking targets the rapporteur.
Charles Alloncle’s parliamentary report, an UDR deputy, made public at 7 a.m. on Tuesday on the National Assembly website, spans over 550 pages and proposes 69 or 80 reforms for public broadcasting. It advocates one billion euros in savings, including mergers or closures of channels like France 2 and France 5, and appointment of executives by the President of the Republic. The document follows six months of tense hearings stemming from the Patrick Cohen-Thomas Legrand affair.
At dawn, Delphine Ernotte, France Télévisions president, reacted on social media: “It’s the biggest layoff plan in French cultural history,” calling the text “biased, built on insinuations, approximations, and falsehoods,” and an “elitist vision, distant from families.” Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu stated that “this report misses the essentials. It’s a missed opportunity.”
Countering the proposed savings, La France insoumise (LFI) in a three-page contribution to the report advocates reinstating the “universal and progressive audiovisual contribution,” abolished in 2022 under the purchasing power package. LFI laments the lack of objectives contracts since 2022 and 200 million euros cuts to France Télévisions since September 2024, arguing for stable funding to ensure independence.
Meanwhile, a complaint against X for “illegal interest-taking” and “passive influence peddling” was filed on May 2 by AC!! Anti-Corruption with the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office. It accuses Alloncle of using questions suggested by Lagardère News. The deputy dismissed the claims on RTL, calling them an “umpteenth diversion attempt.”
