(Paris) French Prime Minister Michel Barnier (right) on Wednesday judged the country’s budgetary situation to be “very serious”, in a statement to AFP, while his future government partners do not want to hear about tax increases.
A meeting scheduled for Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. (4:30 a.m. Eastern Time) between Mr. Barnier and deputies from the Ensemble pour la République (EPR) group, which favors President Emmanuel Macron, to discuss this point in particular, has been “postponed” according to the Prime Minister’s entourage. No new date has been planned at this stage.
Still referring to France’s budget, the former European Commissioner said he had “requested all the elements to assess its exact reality”.
“This situation deserves better than soundbites. It demands responsibility,” added Mr. Barnier, whom President Macron appointed to Matignon on September 5.
“My objective is to get back on the path to growth and to improve the standard of living of the French, while we are already the country where the tax burden is the highest,” continues the Prime Minister, who currently says he is “very focused on the upcoming formation of a balanced government” to “methodically and seriously address the challenges” of the country.
For his part, the first president of the French Court of Auditors, Pierre Moscovici, estimated on Wednesday that the objective set by the outgoing government of reducing the public deficit to 5.1% of GDP (gross domestic product) in 2024 would not be possible to achieve, public finances being seriously degraded.
Auditioned before the Finance Committee of the National Assembly, the former socialist Minister of Finance from 2012 to 2014 cited in particular tax revenues which risk being lower than expected, increased spending by local authorities and unrealised savings.
After seven years of tax cuts, according to several sources within the presidential camp, Michel Barnier recently startled some of his Macronist interlocutors and his political family Les Républicains by mentioning an increase in taxes, in the name of a stifling budgetary situation, but at the risk of depriving himself of support.