The figure is impressive: 2956.8 billion euros.
"
At the end of the third quarter of 2022, the French debt reached 113% of our national wealth
", recognizes Bruno Le Maire, Minister of the Economy, in an interview with
Journal Du Dimanche
.
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French public debt has indeed exploded in recent years, and more particularly since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
It crossed 100% of GDP for the first time during the pandemic and is inexorably approaching the symbolic milestone of 3 trillion euros.
However, the executive seeks to reassure.
“
With the President and the Prime Minister, we are determined to lower the debt from 2026 and bring the public deficit below 3% in 2027
”, highlights the Minister of the Economy.
In 2021, the public deficit reached 6.4% of gross domestic product, far from the European rule of 3%.
"Significant spending cuts"
To achieve this objective, the government is counting on an increase in the creation of wealth but also on a reduction in expenditure.
“
We will comb through all public spending: State, local authorities, social field.
This is the subject of the spending review that we will be undertaking in the coming days under the authority of the Prime Minister
, ”he pointed out.
The reduction of tax advantages favorable to fossil fuels is one of the avenues that seem to be considered in particular.
“
As of the 2024 budget, we will be able to program significant spending cuts
,” assures the minister.
But these savings will not be made on the back of the energy transition since to succeed in it, “
60 to 70 billion additional euros per year
” are necessary, figures Bruno Le Maire.
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He thus calls on local authorities and private actors to participate in the financial effort, believing that "
the State can carry part of it but not all of
it" and that it must play the role of "
lever for private investment
" .
.
“
That is the whole purpose of the bill that I will present in May
,” explains the Minister.
At the beginning of January, during his greetings to economic players, the tenant of Bercy had indicated that he wanted to make France "
the first green industrial nation
" in Europe, through a future bill accelerating the creation of new industrial sites. and incentivizing decarbonization.
Asked about the objectives of reindustrialization and decarbonization, Bruno Le Maire underlines that there have been "
massive investments (...) already committed with France 2030, such as the hydrogen plan, the construction of six new nuclear reactors, electric batteries, especially in the North
”.
Pension reform as a lever
To reduce the debt burden, the executive also intends to increase its revenue thanks in particular to the pension reform.
Precisely, while the bill arrives at the National Assembly and the unions call for new demonstrations everywhere in France on Tuesday, the Minister of the Economy calls on the parties of the majority (Renaissance, Horizon, MoDem) "
to do bloc
" in the National Assembly and to support the reform.
“
When you belong to a majority, you support the proposals that were part of the presidential project
”, intimates the minister, who says he hopes that the Republicans will support this reform “
to the end
”.
Asked about the relevance of reviewing the provisions concerning long careers and women, subjects of numerous disputes, Bruno Le Maire replies that “
the Prime Minister has continued to enrich the text.
No one can say that Elisabeth Borne did not listen
”.
Before developing: “
The real injustice would be to drop our system.
This would weaken women, the most modest, those who have had choppy careers.
“Those “
who are asked to work longer
” must be “
better paid
”, still judges the tenant of Bercy who is delighted with this “
that in just five months, since the vote on the purchasing power law, 3.6 million French people have received an average of 700 euros in new Macron bonuses.
»
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The president of the Confederation of SMEs (CPME) François Asselin believes for his part that the “
government copy deserves to be expanded
” concerning “
measures favorable to the employment of seniors
”, in a column also published by the
JDD
.
