“There is a French problem with public finances” but bringing the public deficit below 3% of GDP in 2027 is “possible but really not desirable”, the first president of the Court of Auditors believes on France Inter
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Financially and politically, the future government of Michel Barnier will be a government “difficult” Who “will inherit an extremely complicated situation”predicts Pierre Moscovici, first president of the Court of Auditors, on France Inter Friday September 20. According to him, the 2025 budget will be “undoubtedly the most complicated to develop in several decades, perhaps since the beginning of the Fifth Republic”in 1958.
“We have a deficit and debt situation that we have not seen for decades.”with the exception of the financial crisis and the Covid crisis which have been “global crises”. “There is a French problem with public finances”believes Pierre Moscovici.
The task “complicated, feasible and necessary”to reduce France’s deficit “is never impossible provided you set credible goals”he continues. For example, Pierre Moscovici considers that bringing the public deficit below 3% of GDP in 2027 is “possible but really not desirable” because “it would be socially extremely harmful, and economically not good either”.
The President of the Court of Auditors suggests “to give yourself time” And “calls for a real budget, not a planer, where we cut uniformly, in an unintelligent way”. According to him, “The European Commission is rather benevolent on one condition that we are honest with it”“If we tell them that we need more time, they can understand, but alongside that, there must be serious measures, serious reforms, credible things,” adds Pierre Moscovici. “It is an exchange of time for measures and reforms”he sums up.
The financial court judges, on the contrary, that the government, until now, “was not very credible in recent times” And “not very coherent” regarding the latest trajectory of public finances. “We will look at this very closely.”he concludes, denouncing the fact that “the slope which should be decreasing is on the contrary increasing”.