Budgetary analysis France Brittany

41

Fiscal flows, public spending and budget of a Brittany benefiting from the devolution

Levrig 2027
Trajectory 2027 – 2032

NB: «For the sake of fluidity and concision, In this text, the masculine is used to encompass all genders.».

Summary

• Economic perimeter: The GDP of Brittany at five is estimated at around 188–192 billion euros in 2024 for a population of about 4.94 million inhabitants.
• Mandatory deductions: Central order of magnitude: approximately 80–83 billion euros per year, including all public administrations combined.
• Overall territorial balance: Public spending benefiting the territory is estimated at around 94–98 billion euros; this apparent balance is strongly influenced by pensions, health care, and the national public deficit.
• Balance with the central state: According to the chosen parameters, Brittany’s net balance with the French central budget would be around – 2 to 10 billion euros per year; the range – 2–6 Md€ is the most prudent when national functions are attributed a share of the responsibilities.
• Public spending by policy areas: More than 100 billion euros in public spending directly or indirectly concern the inhabitants of Brittany 5, but a small proportion is decided by a Breton institution.

Methodological note

As one can imagine, this document was complicated to build.

While Yes Breizh wrote the texts, the data comes from sources retrieved from existing information on the Internet.

In fact, we have established, not without difficulty, a reconstituted ‘Breton’ account: France does not in fact publish an official consolidated account for a Brittany with five departments. The figures therefore have to be read in context. as orders of magnitude, with uncertainty margins varying according to the positions. The 2024 data were preferred for overall consistency, as for 2025 not all data have yet been published. For international comparisons, we used the 2025–2026 budgets when they were available in the original analyses.

Yes Breizh has been able to distinguish quite quickly between three categories: (1) the levies paid in Brittany 5¹ , (2) the revenues allocated to local administrations without necessarily having an autonomous fiscal power, and (3) public spending benefiting the Bretons and Bretons.

Summary analysis of the flows:

Flows coming from Brittany	Flux returning to Brittany
Income tax	Budgets of communes/EPCIs2
Corporate tax	Departments' budgets
VAT	Regional budget
TICPE3 /excises4	State subsidies
Succession rights	State spending in Brittany
Capital taxation	Salaries of state officials
Corporate taxation	Retirements
Social contributions	Health / Health insurance
CSG / CRDS	Social benefits
Other charges	Public investments
TOTAL COLLECTED	TOTAL SPENT/RETURNED

PART I — The fiscal balance of Brittany 5

The objective of the Yes Breizh reflection on this subject is to estimate what is collected in Brittany, what is spent there, and to distinguish the overall balance of Brittany’s budgetary relationship with the central state.

Yes Breizh made a calculation using 2024 as the reference year, the last year for which a coherent set of final or quasi-final public accounts is available.

This calculation is a reconstruction of a Breton accounting system, since France does not publish a «public administration account» for Brittany, which is already at 4 and, even more so, at 5!

Brittany with five departments counts approximately 4.94 million inhabitants : 612,000 in the Côtes-d’Armor, 933,000 in the Finistère, 1.121 million in Ille-et-Vilaine, 1.488 million in Loire-Atlantique and 783,000 in Morbihan. (Insee)

1. The overall result

The central estimate for 2024 is as follows:

Brittany 5 — 2024	Md€
Compulsory levies generated/paid in Brittany	≈ 81 billion euros
including tax collections by the State/national agencies	≈ 34 billion euros
including social contributions + CSG and similar	≈ 37 billion euros
including taxation allocated to the communities	≈ 10–11 billion euros
Public spending benefiting the territory and its inhabitants	≈ 94–98 billion euros
Apparent balance for all public administrations	≈ +13 to +17 billion euros in favor of Brittany

The latter figure This does not mean that the central state is paying 15 billion euros to Brittany!

A large part of this corresponds to pensions, health insurance, education, social benefits, etc. And since France is in a deficit, public spending exceeds mandatory levies: thus, in 2024, mandatory levies represented 42.8% % of GDP, while public spending reached 57,1 % and the deficit 5.8% % of GDP. (Insee)

So that’s the balance with the central state in the strict sense which is the most interesting politically and institutionally, and that is what Yes Breizh has based its analyses on.

2. What Brittany 5 fulfills

Yes Breizh estimates the GDP of Brittany at 188–192 billion euros in 2024. Mechanically applying the 42.8 percent % of mandatory French taxes would give about 81–82 billion euros. Yes Breizh then slightly adjusted the departmental distribution to take into account the economic structure, income, and employment.

Estimation by major category

Collection 2024	Brittany 5
Income tax	≈ 6.0 billion euros
Corporate tax	≈ 3.8 billion euros
VAT	≈ 13.5–14.0 Md€
Energy taxes, fuels, alcohol, tobacco…	≈ 4.0 billion euros
Social contributions	≈ 27–29 billion euros
CSG, CRDS5 and social contributions	≈ 8–10 billion euros
Local taxation	≈ 10–11 billion euros
Successions, patrimony, insurance, various taxes, etc.	≈ 5–7 billion euros
TOTAL	≈ 80–83 billion euros

The consistency of the model is checked against national data: the DGFiP collected 568 billion euros in tax revenues in 2024, Of this, 55 % for the State, 27 % for local administrations and 18 % for Social Security; the corporate tax alone represented 59 billion euros.impots.gouv.fr)

3. Where do approximately these 81 billion go?

They can be grouped more effectively into three sets.

State and national agencies

Approximately 33 to 35 billion euros (net VAT collected by the state, income tax, corporate tax, excise duties, state transfer tax, wealth tax, various taxes...)

Social security

Approximately: 36–38 Md€ (Social security contributions, CSG/CRDS and affected taxation).

Territorial communities

Approximately: 10–11 Md€ (Communes, EPCIs, départements and the share of the regions).

Attention, however: «local taxation» no longer necessarily means tax decided locally. Local revenues now include significant fractions of national taxes, notably VAT⁶ Therefore, Yes Breizh considers that Brittany benefits from local revenues without having equivalent fiscal autonomy.

4. What amounts actually return to Brittany

Yes Breizh has thought it over and concluded that it is necessary to go beyond mere «subsidies» and has selected six major groups.

Public spending benefiting Brittany 5	Estimation
Retirements and pensions	≈ 26–28 billion euros
Health / Health insurance / hospitals	≈ 18–20 Md€
Social benefits other than pensions/health care	≈ 8–10 billion euros
Communes, EPCIs, departments, regions	≈ 18–20 Md€
Education, universities and territorial services of the State	≈ 10–12 billion euros
Other expenditures State: security, justice, infrastructure, defense, agriculture, culture, etc.	≈ 8–10 billion euros
Total directly or reasonably territorializable	≈ 91–100 billion euros

Yes Breizh has chosen an average estimate of ≈ 96 billion euros.

The structure is consistent with the French accounts as a whole: French public spending amounted to 1,672 billion euros in 2024, and their growth was driven in particular by pensions, health care and education. (Insee)

But...

The transfers that fall under the responsibility of the National social solidarity.

A retirement pension paid in Brest is not really «money given by the central government to Brittany»: it is essentially the product of a social scheme to which the pensioner and the employees have contributed.

The same reasoning applies to illness, unemployment, family benefits, pensions, and work-related accidents…

And so...

If we isolate what belongs to the central state, Yes Breizh comes to the following conclusion:

Tax revenues paid to the central state from Brittany: ≈ 29–33 Md€

against:

Direct expenditures incurred by the central state in Brittany: ≈ 20–24 billion euros

either an «deficit» of approximately 5 to 10 billion euros per year in net proceeds Brittany → Central State

before correcting for some national posts, because this general expenditure figure would have to be corrected as for the Defense, diplomacy, central ministries, the Council of State, the Court of Cassation, the central administrations and all the entities of the famous French administrative mille feuilles without forgetting … the debt for which it is obvious that Brittany has benefited from all the loans contracted…

But let’s admit that part of these expenses also benefits Brittany.

5. Yes Breizh therefore offers three balances

Balance A — withdrawals / transfers visible to Brittany

What is collected in Brittany versus what is spent there in material terms:

Rather Brittany beneficiary : approximately +10 to +15 billion €.

But This calculation is deeply influenced by pensions, health care and the national deficit.

Balance B — Strict central state

State taxes paid against the state expenditures actually incurred in Brittany:

Rather Brittany deficitary ≈ 5 to 10 billion euros/year.

Solde C — Central government with share of national functions

Yes Breizh estimated a reasonable share of defense, debt, diplomacy, national research, central administration, etc. for Brittany.

The balance would then probably narrow down to around:

≈ 2 to 6 billion euros in annual deficit between Brittany 5 and the central state.

From this analysis, Yes Breizh draws a first conclusion:

PART II — Public spending by major policies

The objective of the Yes Breizh reflection on the subject: moving from the logic of flows to that of competencies: how much is currently spent in each area and what proportion could, in comparison with the European model, be covered by a decision made by Brittany through devolution?

To avoid any misinterpretation, Yes Breizh started from public expenditures effectively generated by the function in France in 2024, Then, they calculated a share for Brittany. INSEE gives 1,672 billion euros in public spending in 2024, of which 261 billion euros for health, 149 billion euros for education, 166 billion euros for economic affairs, 52 billion euros for security, 42 billion euros for housing, and 30 billion euros for the environment. (Insee)

A. Overall vision of a «ministerial accounting» for Brittany

For 4.94 million inhabitants, Yes Breizh comes with the following dimensions:

Public policy	Annual estimated public expenditure for Brittany	€/person.	Today mainly decided by
Health	19–20 Md€	3 850–4 050 €	Central State / Health insurance
School education	10–11 Md€	2 050–2 250 €	Central State + Local Authorities
Higher education / research	3–4 billion euros	600–800 €	Central state
Social protection outside the health sector	≈50 billion euros	≈10 000 €	Central State / Social Security
Economy / transport / agriculture / energy	≈11–12 billion euros	2 200–2 400 €	Central State + Local Authorities + EU
Security / Justice / Prisons	≈3.5–4 billion €	700–800 €	almost exclusively central state
Housing / spatial planning	≈3 Md€	≈600 €	Central State + Local Authorities
Environment	≈2 Md€	≈400 €	Central State + Local Authorities
Culture	≈0.75 billion euros	≈150 €	especially local authorities
Defense: theoretical share	≈3.5–4 billion €	700–800 €	Central state
Total of these major policies	≈105–115 billion euros	21 360 – 23 270 €

Even though these calculations are estimates that are subject to nuance due to France’s annual debt and deficit… It is clear that we cannot add these figures to our 81 billion euros in levies. Indeed, France spends more than it collects due to the public deficit, and some of the items include transfers between administrations.

But for Yes Breizh, the analysis of the table leads to a second conclusion:

B. Detailed global vision by «portfolio or thematic» for Brittany

1. Health: a spectacular change of scale

Yes Breizh estimates that health spending in Brittany is around 19-20 billion euros per year, which amounts to between 3,850 and 4,050 euros per inhabitant.

As detailed in the thematic analysis on the subject, Brittany hardly directs its health system: the Regional Health Agency, the Health Insurance Scheme, and the central government occupy dominant positions.

Compare with our cousins from the other side of the Channel:

Scotland will spend £21.7 billion on Health and Social Care in 2025-26, which is nearly £3,900 (4,540 €) per inhabitant.Scottish Government)

Wales spends about £12.6 billion on the Health and Social Care portfolio, which is almost £4,000 per inhabitant (4,650 €).GOV.WALES)

For a Brittany benefiting from devolution in healthcare matters, the question would not be: «should we spend more?” (although), but who decides the 19 to 20 billion euros already spent on the health of the Breton women and men.

2. Education: around 10–11 billion euros

Education represents 149 billion euros in French public spending in 2024, Of this amount, 104 billion euros are assumed by the central administrations and 45 billion euros by the local authorities. (Insee)

Yes Breizh therefore estimates at approximately 10-11 Md€/year the spending on education in Brittany: 5, that is between 2,050 and 2,250 € per inhabitant.

Scotland has an Education and Skills portfolio of approximately £4.3 billion, While significant educational spending also comes from communities funded by the Scottish budget (Scottish government) to reach a total of £6.5 billion, or about €1,380 per inhabitant. A much lower amount than in Brittany (48 % less), with teachers being paid better in Scotland and results no less impressive than in Brittany!

3. Higher education, research, innovation

Yes Breizh estimates at about 3-4 billion euros per year in spending on themes in Brittany, which is only 600 to 800 euros per inhabitant.

It has been difficult for us to find elements of comparison with other nations, but we will find some by the 2028 edition of Levrig, but, for Yes Breizh (cf. our thematic reflection on the subject), we believe that devolving this subject would allow us to have a unique strategy while maintaining our relations with the policies of the central state on these matters, but by developing more concrete strategic partnerships with other corresponding entities in other countries.

4. Economy, industry and employment

Yes Breizh estimates a sum of Expenditures related to these topics in an amount between 5 and 7 Md€/year.

It is a considerable sum, but which should be able to lead to real results. Breton industrial policy, and not only in the distribution of aid⁹.

5. Agriculture, fishing and food

According to Yes Breizh, this sector is probably one of those for which Breton jurisdiction would be the most naturally justifiable.

Ireland spends more 2 billion euros per year to its Department of Agriculture, Food and Marine, to which are added more than 1.2 billion euros in direct European payments to farmers. (Gouv.ie)

For Brittany 5, Yes Breizh estimates a sum ≈1.5–2.0 Md€/year the total budget including CAP, national aid, fisheries, FEADER/FEAMPA, municipalities and related public schemes¹⁰.

6. Transport and infrastructure

Scotland has a Transport portfolio of approximately £4 billion per year (4.7 billion €) (Scottish government) for about €850 per inhabitant and per year. Ireland, on the other hand, has a budget of 3.9 billion euros in 2025, Including 2.9 billion euros in investment. (Gouv.ie) for a per capita ration of 622.

For Brittany 5, roads, rail, public transport, ports and infrastructure represent, after research carried out by Yes Breizh, probably around 3–4 billion euros per year Public spending ranges from 607 to 809 per capita per year. But unlike Scotland and Ireland, this budget, although considerable, is spread among various actors (Paris – SNCF – the Brittany and Pays de la Loire regions – departments – metropolitan areas – intercommunalities).

7. Housing

Wales had a whole set of resources in 2025-26. Housing and Local Government from close up £6.75 billion (7.87 billion €) either €2,539 per inhabitant, even though a large part corresponds to the subsidies paid to local authorities and therefore cannot be considered to be solely housing.GOV.WALES).

Ireland, on the other hand, spent more money during the same period: 7.8 billion euros for the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, That is €1,418 per inhabitant, including more than €3.2 billion in investment credits. (Gouv.ie)

Brittany 5 could represent approximately: 2.5–3.5 billion euros per year Public spending related to housing and infrastructure, between €506 and €708 per inhabitant. A ratio therefore almost 4.5 times lower than in Wales or half as low as in Ireland.

This is clearly a priority issue for Brittany, which is not considered to be such by the French central system today.

8. Environment, energy and climate

France devotes approximately 30 billion euros in public spending for environmental protection. (Insee), a reconstruction according to the model explained above results in an amount of ≈2–2.3 billion euros per year For Brittany, however, it would be necessary to make adjustments, given the importance of the coastline, water and agriculture for us.

For comparison, Scotland has planned to spend approximately £0.9 billion (1 billion €) for its Net Zero and Energy plan in 2025-26. (Scottish Government) and Wales about the same amount £897 M for his plan Climate Change and Rural Affairs. (GOV.WALES)

The boundaries therefore need to be adjusted.

9. Justice, police and prisons: the most politically spectacular case

France spends about 52 billion euros for public order and security. (Insee)

According to the same calculation method, Brittany 5’s theoretical share could be around 3.5 to 4 billion euros per year, or approximately 709 to 810 euros per inhabitant per year.

Today, Almost €0 of this policy is decided by a Breton institution.

If we make comparisons again, Scotland has a Justice budget of approximately: £4 billion per year (approximately €4.7 billion) = €848 per year per inhabitant, including police, prisons, justice, fire safety, legal aid, etc. (Scottish Government)

10. The summary table created by Yes Breizh

Thematic	Estimated expenditure Brittany 5	Breton decision-making level today	Possible comparative devolution for Brittany
Health	19–20 Md€	Low	Very strong
Social protection	≈50 billion euros	None	Partial
Education	10–11 Md€	Low	Very strong
Higher education / research	3–4 billion euros	Low	Strong
Economy / Employment	3–4 billion euros	Low	Very strong
Transport	3–4 billion euros	Low	Very strong
Agriculture / fishing	1.5–2 billion euros	Low	Very strong
Housing	≈3 Md€	Reliable	Strong
Environment / energy	≈2 Md€	Low	Strong
Justice / security	3.5–4 billion euros	Almost none	Strong
Culture	≈0.75 billion euros	Quite local, but scattered	Very strong
Languages	≈15–25 M€	Low	Very strong

PART III — Focus on the culture and languages of Brittany

Culture and languages offer a particularly readable case study: spending already exists, but it is fragmented and does not currently form an integrated Breton public policy comparable to those of Wales, Scotland, Ireland or Euskadi (Basque Country, South integrated into Spain).

Yes Breizh has chosen to focus on this topic, one that is very close to the hearts of the Breton women and men.

It will be necessary to be able to do this in the future for all the other topics concerning Brittany.

Methodological supplement

By reconstructing Brittany into five departments based on the cultural accounts of the communities and the state’s funding, Yes Breizh estimates that Brittany’s annual public cultural spending is around 700 to 800 million euros, or approximately 145 to 160 euros per inhabitant.

However, two things must be distinguished: the spending of the local authorities, which is relatively well measured, and that of the State, which is more difficult to locate because part of it goes through national operators.

1. Brittany 5: general order of magnitude 2024

For the whole of France, the communities have allocated 9.985 billion euros for culture in 2024, or 146 € per person 79 % are funded by the communal block, 13 % by the departments and 8 % by the regions.

Brittany is historically rather Below the national average for communal/intercommunal spending. The Ministry’s Cultural Atlas, for example, gave approximately 107 €/per inhabitant for the Breton local block, against up to €148 in PACA.Ministry of Culture)

By updating this structure and integrating the Loire-Atlantique, our estimate is:

Financier — Brittany 5	M€/year	€/person approx.
Communes	390–430	79–87 €
EPCIs/metropolises	125–150	25–30 €
5 departments	70–85	14–17 €
Share of the regions Bretagne + Pays de la Loire for the 44	50–60	10–12 €
Territorial communities	635–725 M€	128–147 €
State – DRAC and decentralized credits	65–80	13–16 €
TOTAL directly territorializable	≈ 700–805 M€	≈ 142–163 €

Yes Breizh therefore retains as a central figure:

≈ 750 M€ of public cultural spending per year in Brittany 5, that is approximately 150 € per capita.

This represents approximately 0.4 % of the GDP of Brittany 5.

2. The important peculiarity: it is mainly the municipalities that fund it

This is a point that is often overlooked¹². In France, the state or the regions are not the main funders of local culture: 79 % of the cultural expenses of the communities are carried out by the communes and intercommunalities. The communal block devotes approximately 123 € per inhabitant, against 19 € for the departments and only 12 € for the regions.

Brittany follows this logic. Rennes, Nantes, Brest, Lorient, Vannes, Saint-Brieuc, Quimper, Saint-Nazaire, their metropolitan areas/agglomerations, as well as the exceptionally dense network of communes and intercommunalities, constitute therefore the true foundation of Breton cultural funding.

This is also consistent with the density of the equipment: the administrative Brittany, in particular, has 1,001 libraries, With the best French equipment rate, 21.1 libraries per 100,000 inhabitants. (Ministry of Culture)

3. Comparison with some major regions

To make the most relevant comparisons possible, Yes Breizh chose to use as a reference the number of euros per capita, and not the absolute budgets. By combining the DEPS data¹³ Available and updated for 2024, Yes Breizh has produced the following summary table, albeit modestly in terms of scale but nevertheless reliable.

Territory	Expenditure
PACA	≈ 165–185 €/hab.
Île-de-France	≈ 155–175 €/hab.
Occitanie	≈ 145–165 €/person.
Hauts-de-France	≈ 145–160 €/person.
All of France	146 € per person.
New Aquitaine	≈ 130–145 €/person.
Brittany 5	≈ 128–147 €/hab.
Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes	≈ 125–145 €/hab.

Yes Breizh again specifies that the thresholds per Region are Estimates, Because the 2024 publication of the Ministry provides the consolidated total for France, but does not, in its summary report, present a directly comparable table of the thirteen regions according to exactly the same definition. The French average of 146 € per capita However, it is a 2024 accounting data. (Ministry of Culture)

4. But the gap becomes much more dramatic with the central state

In 2024, the Ministry of Culture had a budget of approximately 4.6 billion euros, to which are added public audiovisual services and various operators. (Ministry of Culture) Or the territorial distribution is extremely unbalanced, especially because of the large national institutions located in Paris.

Historically, the ministry itself noted that the state’s cultural funding represented approximately:

139 €/per inhabitant in Île-de-France compared to only 15 €/per inhabitant outside Île-de-France. (Ministry of Culture)

The values have evolved since then, but The Francilienne concentration remains structural Louvre (more than €320 million), Paris Opera (240 million), Versailles (170 million), Centre Pompidou (460 million), etc.

Thus, we can make two observations:

First of all, In terms of local cultural spending per capita, Brittany seems to be rather positioned around or slightly below the French average, Despite its identity, heritage and density of cultural activities, it is particularly important.

Second, In Brittany, the share of the state that is directly spent is much lower than that spent in Île-de-France.

And this second question becomes even more interesting if we include the expenses related to Breton and Gallo languages.

5. A calculation and a comparison for the languages of Brittany

As Yes Breizh does almost systematically, in the logic of the fiscal balance we have just established, we now compare Brittany 5 / Scotland / Wales / Ireland / Basque Country, by indicating for each €/person, the share of the public budget and the amount specifically dedicated to the language(s) and national culture.

For Yes Breizh, this comparison was made, because it is much more telling than a comparison solely with the French regions.

The data comes from the analysis of the budgets 2025-2026, With Brittany 5 reconstituted (no consolidation).

Country or Nation	Population	Culture carried by the national/regional government	National/regional language	Language €/per person.
Brittany administrative	3.45 M	28 M€ Region	≈12 M€ Breton + Gallo	≈3,5 €
Brittany 5	4,94 M	?	?	?
Scotland	5.54 M	£238 M (277 M€)	£35.5 M (41.4 M€) Gaelic + Scots	≈£6,4 (7.4 €)
Wales	3,19 M	≈£120–190 M depending on the scope (140 – 221 M€)	£57.2 M (66.7 M€) Welsh	≈£18 (21 €)
Ireland	5,46 M	≈380 M€ arts & culture	107 M€ Gaeltacht/Irish	≈19,6 €
Basque Country (Euskadi)	2.22 M	79.8 M€ culture	86.4 M€ in Euskara	≈39 €

For the sole linguistic policy, Euskadi devotes approximately eleven times as much per inhabitant as the Brittany Region currently does to Breton and Gallo; Wales seven times, Ireland about six times and Scotland twice.

The boundaries may not be absolutely identical, but the differences are too significant to be explained by the methodology alone.

6. Brittany 4: approximately 12 M€ for languages

The 2025 budget of the Brittany Region provides for approximately 12 M€ for the languages of Brittany. The budget program provides for €10.725 million in operational expenses and €1.265 million in investments, so roughly 12 M€. (Region Bretagne)

For 2024, the programming distinguished between:

• Breton: 10.28 M€ ;
• Gallo: 1.04 M€.

The goal for 2027 is to reach approximately 11.33 M€ for Breton and 1.65 M€ for the Gallo, That is almost €13 million.Region Bretagne)

This corresponds to approximately 3.5 € per inhabitant of administrative Brittany.

Reported artificially to Brittany 5, if the effort were simply extended to the Loire-Atlantique, we would remain within a similar scale of magnitude.

To be perfectly clear, however, this does not include all the public money allocated to Breton and Gallo: we must add national education, the municipalities, the departments, the local public authorities, the Loire-Atlantique region, the audiovisual sector, etc. But again, the gap is such that the diagnosis remains the same. ¹⁴

7. Scotland: twice to three times the budget of Brittany

The Scottish government’s cultural budget for 2025-2026 amounts to £238.1 M (277 M€), of which:

• Creative Scotland: £80 M (93.2 M€);
• National cultural collections: £104.8 M (122.1 M€);
• Other arts: £28.6 M (33.3 M€);
• national companies: £24.6 M (28.7 M€). (Scottish Government)

To this is added the linguistic policy.

The revised Scottish budget for 2025-2026 allocates £35.5 M (41.4 M€) in Gaelic and Scots, of which:

• £14.8 M (17.3 M€) for Gaelic audiovisual broadcasting; ;
• £6,325 M (7.3 M€) to Bòrd na Gàidhlig¹⁵ ;
• £4.67 M (5.4 M€) of Gaelic Specific Grant; ;
• £3,458 M (4 M€) for education/culture/arts; ;
• £5 M (5.8 M€) of investment; ;
• £0.95 M (1.1. M€) for the Scots. (Scottish Government)

That is approximately: £6.4 (7.5 €) per inhabitant for Gaelic + Scots.

That’s about it already twice the equivalent ratio for Brittany.

But the institutional element is even more important: Scotland decides on this policy itself in its devolved national budget.

8. Wales: Scale change

The budget directly linked to the strategy Cymraeg 2050 achieved £57.2 M (66.7 M€) in 2025-2026, compared with about £54 M (62 M€) the previous year. (GOV.WALES)

Out of a population of 3.187 million: this corresponds to ≈ £18 (21 €) per capita for the Welsh.

That’s about five times what Brittany spends per capita.

It should be noted that this budget is not just used to fund a few linguistic associations. It also covers:

• learning Welsh; ;
• National Centre for Learning Welsh ;
• Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol¹⁶ ;
• Eisteddfod¹⁷ ;
• Urdd Gobaith Cymru¹⁸ ;
• Mentrau Iaith¹⁹ ;
• Welsh community press; ;
• family policy; ;
• linguistic infrastructure.GOV.WALES)

In Wales, the Welsh language is treated as an element of the national «infrastructure’ when In France, Breton is much more often treated as an element of an optional cultural policy.

9. Ireland: nearly €20 per capita even before TG4²⁰

The Irish budget for 2025 provides for:

• nearly 380 M€ for Arts and Culture ;
• €107 million for support to Gaeltacht communities²¹ and to the Irish ;
• 60 M€ for TG4, the public television channel in the Irish language; ;
• approximately €328 million for the entire media sector.Gouv.ie)

The 107 M€ already represent ≈19.6 € per capita.

If we add the 60 M€ of TG4, The resources directly identifiable with the language and its media universe are approaching: 167 M€, or about 31 € per capita.

In terms of capacity to build a cultural and media space in the language, As with Wales, the gap with Brittany is considerable.

10. The Basque Country: a spectacular example

The Basque government’s 2025 budget provides for:

For culture: €79.8 million, for the Basque language policy: €86.4 million

either already: 166.2 M€ culture + language.

For only 2.218 million inhabitants we get:

• culture: ≈36 €/person.
• Euskara: ≈39 €/person.
• culture + language: ≈75 €/person.

The only Basque linguistic policy budget is therefore more than seven times the Breton budget in absolute terms, while Euskadi has one million fewer inhabitants than the administrative Brittany and less than half the population of Brittany 5.

It should be noted that the 86.4 M€ mentioned above includes, among other things: 59 M€ for HABE, the organization responsible in particular for learning the Basque language, and 17.6 M€ allocated to increasing its social use, notably in the media, leisure and sports… (Euskadi)

And to conclude, we add another useful element, that of the public audiovisual sector with the’EiTB, whose budget is €192.2 million. (Euskadi)

Yes Breizh often mentions our «cousins» across the Channel, but it should be noted that Euskadi has what Brittany does not have: a true national cultural system comprising language + television + radio + heritage + creation + hence international influence.

11. A conclusion…

Brittany is therefore absolutely not – of course – a cultural desert. It has theaters, festivals, libraries, conservatories, museums, heritage sites, art centers, etc., which are amply funded by the local authorities.

The problem lies elsewhere. These financial means are Fragmented among hundreds of decision-makers and does not constitute a Breton cultural policy.

This is what distinguishes the two models:

French model/Brittany	Devolved model sought by Yes Breizh
Culture fragmented between communes, EPCIs, departments, Region, State	A coherent national strategy
Language is an optional competence	Language is part of central public policy
Not really any Breton public audiovisual	Drawing inspiration from BBC Cymru/S4C, TG4, EiTB…
No autonomous Breton international cultural strategy	Creation of international institutes and programs22
Sectoral financing	Building a coherent «ecosystem»

We will build for the next edition of Levrig for culture, but also for the other «portfolios or thematic» 3 budget scenarios for devolution for Brittany as part of a progressive transfer plan.

Notes and clarifications

1. As already indicated, Brittany 5 corresponds to the real Brittany, called historical Brittany, with its 5 departments. ↩

2. Public intercommunal cooperation institution. ↩

3. Internal consumption tax on energy products. ↩

4. Tax revenues intended to discourage the consumption of goods deemed harmful to health or the environment. ↩

5. Contribution to the repayment of social debt ↩

6. The final 2024 accounts for each level of the community are available from the OFGL/DGFiP.Local Authorities) ↩

7. See our thematic reflections, particularly on health and disability issues. ↩

8. See our thematic reflections, particularly on the topic of education. ↩

9. See our thematic reflections on these topics. ↩

10. See our thematic reflections, particularly on the topics of agriculture and the sea. ↩

11. See our thematic reflection on housing. ↩

12. At any rate, that was the case for Yes Breizh. ↩

13. The Department of Studies, Prospective, Statistics and Documentation, the statistical service of the Ministry of Culture.
↩

14. Why is there no real a consolidated account on the subject of the languages of Brittany? ↩

15. The equivalent of our Public Office for the Breton Language ↩

16. Internet library containing resources in Welsh and English for teachers and students. ↩

17. Great Welsh cultural festival of literature, music and theatre centered on the Welsh language. ↩

18. The largest voluntary youth organization in Wales, offering Welsh language activities for children and young people. ↩

19. Welsh language initiative. ↩

20. Public television in the Irish language. ↩

21. «Gaeltacht» is an Irish word that refers to all those who speak Irish. By extension, it refers to an area where the Irish language is spoken in a significant proportion of the population. ↩

22. See the thematic analysis on the diaspora. ↩

The thematic dossiers of Levrig 2027 by Yes Breizh

• 1. Statute, institutions, devolution and Constitution
• 2. Public finances, budget and fiscal autonomy
• 2 bis. Budgetary analysis France – Brittany 5
• 3. The public service in Brittany
• 4. Health in Brittany
• 5. Disability in Brittany
• 6. Education, training and higher education
• 7. Culture, languages and media
• 8. Breton identity, transmission and cohesion
• 9. Housing in Brittany
• 10. Employment, businesses and economic development
• 11. Economy, trade and mobility
• 12. Agriculture and food
• 13. Sea, coast and fishing
• 14. Energy, climate and the ecological transition
• 15. Digitalization and sovereignty
• 16. Security, justice and defense
• 17. Europe and internationally
• 18. Breton Diaspora and international outreach