2024-01-08 14:31:54
The traditional ceremony of greetings to economic players took place this Monday morning for Bruno Le Maire. The opportunity for the Minister of the Economy to give his vision of the French economy, between hopes and warnings.
“The hardest part” to come for public spending
On public finances, Bruno Le Maire did not take it lightly: “The hardest part is ahead of us,” he warned. This is due, in particular, to the various economic crises experienced by the country. “I remind you that we must find at least 12 billion euros in savings in 2025,” declared the minister from Bercy. Already, the 2024 budget has been marked by massive savings, mainly coming from the gradual end of exceptional purchasing power support measures.
After the scheduled end of the tariff shield which was intended to deal with the surge in energy prices, “we will make new proposals in the coming weeks, in particular on the basis of the review of public expenditure”, he said. -he explains. “With Thomas Cazenave”, his colleague in charge of Public Accounts, “we will be uncompromising on unfunded ministerial announcements. Any ministerial announcement must rigorously and strictly respect the appropriations which have been approved by Parliament,” he added.
As for warnings, Bruno Le Maire did not hide his concern about the geopolitical situation. “A conflagration in the Middle East, growing insecurity in Red Sea traffic, an incident in the Taiwan Strait would call into question international stability and have a lasting impact on world trade,” warned the minister. Enough to make him say that the “first economic risk” in the world is “geopolitical”.
Strengthen financial attractiveness through a law
“We have become the most attractive nation for investments in Europe. We were able to take full advantage of Brexit and attract the largest financial institutions on the planet to Paris,” Bruno Le Maire initially welcomed. To continue this momentum, the minister intends to propose, in the spring, “a law on the financial attractiveness of France” in order to “consolidate this position”.
Freeze traffickers’ assets
Bruno Le Maire announced another measure to come in 2024: the freezing of the assets of drug traffickers, “as we already do for terrorists”, thanks to a legislative modification. “We must hit drug traffickers in the wallet,” he justified.
The goal of full employment
“We must continue to make full employment a strategic objective for the five-year term,” began Bruno Le Maire on the question of work, emphasizing in particular the employment of those over 55. He also pleaded for “fair remuneration of employees”, thanking the companies which have implemented increases and encouraging them to “continue on this path in 2024”.
The path to green industry
Another subject addressed by the Minister of the Economy, that of the reindustrialization of France, in particular by focusing on a greener and carbon-free industry. Bruno Le Maire intends to focus on green electricity, but also on the production of electric batteries, heat pumps, wind turbines… And the “reduction in production taxes”, he listed.
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