2024-09-26 03:29:31
Blood, work, tears and sweat. This is what Winston Churchill promised the British in May 1940, shortly after he was appointed Prime Minister, in the middle of the World War. Michel Barnier seems set to make similar concerns to France. At least when it comes to public money.
Two weeks before the presentation of the state budget for 2025, his two ministers who now share Bercy provided the ground, Wednesday September 25, during the hearing by the finance committee of the National Assembly.
Dealing with violent crime in public accounts, “We will give you a budget of truth and effort, which will require significant reform measures”, announced Antoine Armand, now responsible for the economy. “Yes, the state of our public finances is important”, added martially, his colleague Laurent Saint-Martin, responsible for the budget. To work, “the time is now”.
Without precision, both have set a line: efforts will “first and foremost” on public spending, in which they are preparing to cut through “strong measures”. Tax increases will be limited. Apparently, the two Macronist ministers do not intend to call into question the party-policy, favorable to businesses, defended by the President of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron, for seven years, despite the intervention in the public debt which follow up.
Sweat and tears, but first, “truth”. This is how Laurent Saint-Martin began his presentation. “The fact is that by 2024, public deficit risks more than 6% of GDP [produit intérieur brut] according to the latest statistics available to us,” put the new minister in charge of the budget.
France would have to go into even more debt
Silence fell in the small room of the Palais-Bourbon. After having dropped to 5.5% of GDP in 2023, this deficit of the State, local authorities and Social Security is beginning to decrease to 4.4% in 2024, to return, in 2027, to the 3% planned in the agreements European. However, instead of decreasing, the deficit continues to worsen. Between the April forecasts and those revealed on Wednesday, the gap reached more than 25 euros.
The reasons for the slide remain open. Before leaving Bercy, Bruno Le Maire had placed a large part of the responsibility on the back of the local authorities, accusing him of overspending. “There was a time when every mayor wanted his own gym or community hall, but that’s over, replied the (socialist) committee from Sarthe Thierry Cozic. Locally elected representatives are not bad managers. »
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