It is not about allowing the idea that France could once again delay the reduction of its public deficit to establish itself. As the government of Prime Minister François Bayrou prepares to present his average structural plan to the European Commission, he describes the budget trajectory for the coming years, the country will have to make “an additional commission of effort” in 2026. The Minister of Economy announced Eric Lombard on Sunday April 13.
France had already reserved a budget for 2025 that included about 50 billion euros in savings; This increased this week for an addition of 5 billion euros of reserve funds.
The “additional effort” by 2026 will be “essentially” saving, said Lombard on French television, but “it can also be an increase in revenues linked to growth.” “With 57% or Gross Domestic Product [GDP] In public spending, we can absolutely reduce expenses and maintain the quality of services, “he said, refusing to label this policy as” austerity. “
This new hardening goes against the speech that Lombard gave on April 4, in which he warned that if the growth collapsed due to the commercial war, the government would not further reduce the expense or increase taxes. This would mean that it would not meet its objective of reducing the public deficit to 4.6% or GDP by 2026.
‘A difficult equation’
Lombard also said Sunday that he wanted to make a temporary tax on the rich, requested in 2025, to a permanent tax of “a group for heritage.” He estimated that this measure “would affect a few tens of thousands or taxpayers.” Lombard’s office is specific on Sunday afternoon that “this contribution, whose form is currently being discussed and working, should not penalize work or investment in our economy in any way. It is about finding a fair and sustainable, while a” taxes “solution.
Government spokesman Sophie Primas, admitted on Sunday that it was “a difficult equation.” However, “the prime minister has committed, like the President of the Republic, (…) not to increase taxes,” he said, speaking on French radio.
Lombard and the premiums made these comments two days before an important conference convened by Prime Minister Bayrou, aimed at raising awareness among the French about the country’s budget “pathologies.” Its significant fragility is exacerbated by uncertainties linked to the protectionist assault of the United States of Donald Trump.
In reaction to the announcement of Lombard, the leader of the radical left, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, said that “the people of France are being treated as Greece in 2010”, a reference to the austerity measures implemented in that country duration of the financial crisis, which later affected. The camp of President Emmanuel Macron “presents the bill (…). The equivalent of the National Education Budget,” wrote the leader of the La France Insumise party in X.
]
