Figure of the macronie of the first five-year term, the new minister, who in the meantime headed Business France, has the difficult task of completing a finance bill in a political and financial context that is complicated to say the least.
A few weeks ago, Laurent Saint-Martin was roaming the specialized media platforms as head of Business France, an organization responsible for promoting French companies abroad. On August 12, in the middle of summer and while Emmanuel Macron is looking for a Prime Minister, he is the guest of the BFM Business podcast. “International investors need stability”proclaims the one who has been at the head of this structure since January 2023. “The policy of attractiveness must be continued, France must not make a turn on these issues“, he insists, relaying “the wait” bosses on the new government team. And now, on September 21, he was appointed Minister responsible for the Budget, reporting directly to Michel Barnier rather than to the Minister of the Economy. “When the President of the Republic and the Prime Minister call you and offer you this position, you cannot refuse.”he confides to franceinfo.
At 39, the former general budget rapporteur, elected under the LREM label from 2017 to 2022 in Val-de-Marne, signs a resounding return to the helm. But in a very delicate position. “I am aware of the difficulty, but adversity has never paralyzed me, on the contrary”he assumes, telling himself “ready to take on the challenge”. “His mission is very hard. Having exchanged with him, there is a priestly sideconfides Anne-Laure Cattelot, former Macronist MP who sat alongside him on the Finance Committee. He knows he can take old friends against him.”
The treasurer of Emmanuel Macron’s 2022 campaign is responsible for finalizing the budget for next year, “one of the most delicate of the Fifth Republic”, said the president of the Court of Auditors, Pierre Moscovici, before a presentation, Thursday, October 10, to the Council of Ministers. Faced with a record deficit, which could exceed 6% of GDP, Laurent Saint-Martin must find 60 billion euros in savings, in an extremely tense political context, where the government only has a very narrow relative majority. to the Assembly.
“He’s the right man in the right place to solve this equation.”wants to believe the deputy Together for the Republic (EPR) Charles Rodwell, who praises a political leader “very level-headed, hyper open to dialogue”. He is not the only one within the macronie to salute the qualities of Laurent Saint-Martin, engaged in 2016 with Emmanuel Macron after a quick stint at the PS from 2009 to 2012. “He has a sense of the general interest, courageous and pragmatic”greets EPR deputy Mathieu Lefèvre.
Born in Toulouse and rugby fan, Laurent Saint-Martin was captain of the parliamentary XV. “He’s a rugby player and rugby players have all the qualities, such as a sense of teamwork”smiles Jean-René Cazeneuve, EPR deputy for Gers who succeeded him as general budget rapporteur between 2022 and 2024.
At the time, the economic context was very different: this follower of Emmanuel Macron was tasked with translating into the budget the policy of whatever it costs, in order to revive the economy paralyzed by the Covid crisis. “We had to invest”remembers Anne-Laure Cattelot, who notes with a smile that the man was also “love” because he had “money” to distribute.
“He’s been a good investor. Will he be a good saver?”
Anne-Laure Cattelot, former LREM MPat franceinfo
At the end of his first term, Laurent Saint-Martin was a candidate for re-election in his constituency, but like many of his comrades, he was defeated. In his case, by the media and young TV columnist Louis Boyard (LFI). He had previously failed during the 2021 regionals as head of the macronie list. In June, after the dissolution pronounced by the president, Laurent Saint-Martin did not return to the electoral fight. Enough to make the former majority cringe.
“There is a trial for illegitimacy, it’s a little surprising to go looking for someone who was beaten 2022 and who did not seek to represent himself this year, observes a parliamentarian from the central bloc. He comes into an eight-cushion bowling game where he doesn’t have that sensitivity of the relative majority.” Above all, we continue from the same source, “Laurent Saint-Martin is politically weak. He is under supervision because the real boss of Bercy is Jérôme Fournel [directeur du cabinet du Premier ministre et ancien directeur de cabinet de Bruno Le Maire]. He is the one who prepared the budget and completes it“.
However, it is Laurent Saint-Martin who will politically embody this 2025 budget. A faithful supporter of the market economy, pro-business, he is perfectly aligned with the supply-side policy promoted by Emmanuel Macron and which has notably made it possible to reduce part of unemployment. Raise taxes? The Laurent Saint-Martin of the beginning of the 2020 decade is fiercely hostile. “I can assure you that under our mandate, there will be no increase in tax pressure”he assures in an interview with Opinion dating from April 15, 2020.
Asked about the reduction of the deficit, he then affirmed that this “will have to go through stronger growth”. “We are not going to do a recovery by putting fiscal brakes”, he adds. Same line a year later, as he prepares to introduce the finance bill for 2022. “We have lowered the tax burden for all households, we must not go back. We must let the dough rest”he declared to Echoes. Asked about his past statements, Laurent Saint-Martin of 2024 assumes.
“It will not have escaped your notice that since 2020 and 2021 the situation has deteriorated, this is explained both by the necessary desire of the State to protect the French in the face of inflationary crises but also due to a slowdown economic.”
Laurent Saint-Martin, Minister of the Budgetat franceinfo
“The situation is no longer the same as in 2020, it is really special”we are also trying to justify now within the EPR group. Laurent Saint-Martin still finds himself having to defend 20 billion in tax increases, in addition to 40 billion in reductions in public spending. The tax increases will be shared between the French, including the 0.3% of wealthiest households who will be subject to an exceptional contribution, and businesses. Guest of France 2 Thursday October 3, Michel Barnier assured that this represented 300 companies “who generate more than a billion euros in turnover” And which would be taxed temporarily, “a year, maybe two.”
“I know of very few taxes which remain exceptional, I will not hide my question from you, I will need guarantees”book, skeptic, EPR deputy Denis Masséglia. Within the 95 elected representatives of the presidential party group, a line is now “very widely shared”: “no tax increases, that’s our common thread”, they say. Hence the very uncomfortable position of Laurent Saint-Martin vis-à-vis his own political family.
“It’s difficult for Laurent Saint-Martin with the group. We try to embody a form of continuity with Macronism.”
An EPR deputyat franceinfo
“He was not very good at breakfast for the old majority” the last week of September, reports the same EPR deputy.
Figures from the macronie did not hesitate to make their opposition known publicly. “I will not vote for the budget”assured Thursday on franceinfo Gérald Darmanin, former Minister of the Interior (2020-2024) but also of Action and Public Accounts (2017-2020). “For the moment, the budget as announced seems unacceptable to me”added the deputy from the North. Questioned about these remarks, Michel Barnier appeared to downplay them on France 2. “Frankly, I have very little time, I don’t want to make controversies”swept the Prime Minister.
But the Macronist troops are not giving up. “I reject the scale of the fiscal shock, which was that of François Hollande in 2012. This shock would be a risk for growth and therefore employment, the opposite signal to that which we sent with Emmanuel Macron in 2017”castigates Mathieu Lefèvre. Charles Rodwell, former pen of Bruno Le Maire in Bercy and now MP for Yvelines, agrees.
“The absolute priority is reducing spending. As it stands, I will not vote for a tax increase.”
Charles Rodwell, EPR MPat franceinfo
Questioned about these positions, Laurent Saint-Martin prefers to emphasize spending reductions: “The EPR deputies who say that tax is not the first solution are right to say so. I also share the need to tackle State expenditure as a priority (…). For each euro of additional contribution, I will impose two euros less spending. This is a real break and I am counting on the responsibility of parliamentarians to carry this objective with me. On X, Sunday, the minister assured that he had heard the new proposals from Gabriel Attal and Gérald Darmanin who want fewer tax increases and more “valorization of work”and said he was open to “compromise as long as they straighten out our accounts”.
But will there even be a vote on the budget? There is strong reason to doubt this given the composition of the National Assembly, and even though Elisabeth Borne had used 49.3 on multiple occasions to pass previous budgets. “If we don’t succeed, we will go through 49.3, a tool of the Constitution”defused Michel Barnier on France 2. There then remains only one question: at what point will it be brandished by the executive? Laurent Saint-Martin makes a promise: “The debate will take place. It is important and necessary.” And to add: “I hope it is as calm and serene as possible.”