Bruno Le Maire and Gabriel Attal, “either they are manipulative or they are incompetent”, exclaims Cécile Duflot, from Oxfam France

Invited on Tuesday on franceinfo, Cécile Duflot denounces the comments of Bruno Le Maire and Gabriel Attal who call on the French to “make efforts” to deal with the public deficit.

“The question I ask myself is whether Bruno Le Maire and Gabriel Attal are really incompetent or totally manipulative. But there are only two of these options that are possible”reacted, Tuesday March 26, on franceinfo Cécile Duflot, general director of Oxfam France, while Bruno Le Maire and Gabriel Attal called on the French to “make efforts” and indicated that the government would “continue on the path of rigor” to deal with France’s public deficit which reached 5.5% of GDP in 2023.

Cécile Duflot believes that it is necessary “ask the question of revenue and not ask the question of expenses” to reduce the deficit. She denounces the remarks of the Minister of the Economy who says “at the same time, we had a problem of revenue over expenditure, we contained ourselves, but we are going to increase the price of medicines and we are going to reduce aid for ecology”. “There is something wrong”points out the director of Oxfam France. “Either they are manipulative or they are incompetent. There are only two options.”

“It’s a real political choice”

Cécile Duflot recognizes that the State can “spend less” money, but “it depends on what.” “Today, the public deficit is almost equal to the aid we give to businesses,” says the former minister. According to her, it became “the first item, almost, of state expenditure. 157 billion euros”. She calls for “think about how you construct a budget and who you ask to make efforts.” The director of Oxfam France denounces the fact of “asking for efforts from people who pay for medicines”, because ““It’s not the same thing as asking for efforts from companies that have made super profits or from French billionaires.” “It’s a real political choice“, says Cécile Duflot.

The director of Oxfam France denounces again “abuse” of the government “on the dogmatic, almost religious, refusal to consider that we can use the tax of those who have enriched themselves due to solidarity during the Covid crisis”. “We deployed hundreds of billions of euros during the crisis to help businesses. It worked well. Solidarity, now that they are making super profits, must work in the opposite direction. Otherwise, it is totally unfair. “