Gabriel Attal tries to convince the majority

Before the Rennaissance group in the National Assembly on Tuesday, the Prime Minister tried to convince a skeptical majority.

Yaël Braun-Pivet repeats it, Tuesday April 2, on franceinfo: she wants to open the debate on the taxation of the richest companies. Banco responds Gabriel Attal. The Prime Minister appeared before the Renaissance group meeting, like every Tuesday, at the National Assembly. Faced with a public deficit which reached 5.5% last year, the idea of ​​embarking on a new unemployment reform to save money, rather than seeking new revenue, leaves the majority skeptical.

Gabriel Attal tries to calm things down with first the idea of ​​taxing rents, in other words, all income that does not come from work. The Prime Minister is waiting for proposals – and quickly, by June, before the European elections – and a special mission is entrusted to four deputies from the majority. Among them, the general budget rapporteur Jean-René Cazeneuve, the former minister Nadia Hai and the president of the Modem group Jean-Paul Mattéi.

The superprofit tax is not enough

To stem the spiraling deficit, Gabriel Attal also says he is ready to tax the super profits of energy companies and oil companies more harshly. These large groups recently received record profits thanks to the rise in electricity prices, in particular. In recent months, this tax has not brought in enough revenue for the state coffers, but the government has ruled out the idea of ​​taxing the superprofits of companies in other sectors, even the richest. “The heart of our software is work”, tirelessly repeats the Prime Minister, who defends consistency: “our project is neither tax increases nor austerity”.

Last week, Gabriel Attal returned to the subject, proposing a new reform of unemployment insurance. “We must also listen to a silent majority, these are the French people who work and who have the impression that every effort is required of them,” says Gabriel Attal, who has sparked a first internal outcry since his arrival at Matignon.

A real political risk

The Prime Minister is taking risks, first and foremost that of a motion of censure. France Insoumise is already ready to submit one, says MP Eric Coquerel, also president of the Finance Commission of the National Assembly. On the right, the Republicans – who have made the good management of public accounts and the country’s finances one of their favorite things for years – are also ready to press the button. “Nuclear button”even say some members of the majority who remember the chaotic vote on the immigration law at the end of the year.

Still to calm things down, Gabriel Attal confirmed on Tuesday that the government would reveal next week its budgetary trajectory to reach a 3% deficit in 2027, before the prospect of examining the budget in Parliament in the fall. “We have a goal: get the country out of debt,” repeats the Prime Minister, faced with the first upheavals of his majority. She is opposed to an increase in taxes which she considers very unpopular, while he sees it as a form of vitality. “We can’t say that we are scumbags and, at the same time, as soon as there is a debate, say that the majority is dead,” says the Prime Minister just over two months before the European elections. He knows better than anyone that a division of his troops would be absolutely deadly.