by breaking the taboo of “rigor”, is Gabriel Attal preparing the French for the idea of ​​a new turn of the budgetary screw?

After refusing to use the word rigor for a long time, the government, through its Prime Minister, brought the term back to the forefront this Tuesday. In the corridors of ministries, some are deciphering this new strategy.

“Rigor“. The word was until now scrupulously avoided – even taboo -, yet in front of the National Assembly, it was pronounced twice by Prime Minister Gabriel Attal. It has been weeks since the government, Minister of the Economy in the lead , prepared minds for a turn of the budgetary screw without ever uttering the term. It therefore seems that Gabriel Attal, who will be on the 8 p.m. news on TF1 on Wednesday March 27, has decided to break a taboo.

However, as soon as the word was dropped on Tuesday in the Assembly, Matignon hastened to put into perspective the powerful symbolic charge of a term which in politics can never be used lightly: “Attal, it’s not Mauroy 83”, allusion to the radical change in economic policy two years after the first election of François Mitterrand.

Saying that we want to be rigorous, serious, in terms of controlling public spending does not mean that we are giving the start of an austerity policy, we assure the top of the executive. Ten billion euros in cuts have already been made in mid-February on the 2024 budget, but additional savings will be found this year, however warned the Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire: “At least 20 billion“€ savings are already planned for 2025.

A country “addicted to public spending”

Moreover, behind the scenes at Bercy, there is plenty of talk: announcing 10 billion euros more in savings when public spending amounts to more than 1,500 billion is not rigorous. This is the only decision made at this stage. A government communicator deciphers the logic: Gabriel Attal accustoms the French to the idea of ​​the efforts that will have to be made. Pronouncing the word rigor in a country “addicted to public spending”, according to an advisor, it means working on the acceptability of future measures: new tightening of the screws on unemployment insurance, arbitration on additional budget cuts and possible changes to tax policy.

Because even if the executive repeats that it does not want tax increases, pressure is growing – even within the majority – to re-examine certain niches, perhaps review certain aid to businesses or introduce an exceptional tax on companies who make super profits. “We cannot be a tax fetishist, ask everyone for efforts and refuse to look at how we can find new resources”whispers a minister who talks about how the fear of “plane blow” concerns, including members of the government, and who sees to what extent these questions of deficit and debt contribute to weighing down the morale of the French. By doing an 8 p.m., Gabriel Attal invites himself to the French. He said the word “rigor“, now he will have to reassure.