French parliament votes to abolish national broadcasting licence fee

Paris, Aug 5: France will abolish its broadcasting licence fee, after the Senate approved a corresponding bill on the supplementary budget on Thursday evening. The National Assembly, the lower house of the French parliament, had already approved the bill in the afternoon, dpa news agency reported.

Until the end of 2024, public broadcasting is to be financed by part of the value-added tax, among other things. For the period after that, the government must then present a separate plan for funding.

Currently, the annual licence fee in France is 138 ($141), due for all households that own a TV.

President Emmanuel Macron promised to scrap the fee during his last election campaign, to counteract the increased cost of living.

By approving the supplementary budget, parliament also gave the green light to some 10 billion to go towards fully nationalising indebted energy giant EDF, to facilitate major investments in nuclear power, among other things.