Gérard Larcher sounds the alarm. In an interview published on Thursday in the economic weekly La Tribune, the president of the Senate asked the executive to "control public spending", at the risk of "experiencing a situation like Greece". While the boss of Bercy, Bruno Le Maire, had promised to put an end to the "whatever it costs", "it does not go a day or almost without the President of the Republic announcing new expenses", taunted the elected LR of Rambouillet.
" READ ALSO Public spending: the endless end of the "whatever it costs"
During his interview with the 20h of TF1, on May 15, Emmanuel Macron promised a tax cut of 2 billion euros for the middle classes, by 2027. "I wonder about the financing of such a measure!", retorted Gérard Larcher, recalling that the country has the "highest public spending rate and compulsory levy rate in the EU". So much so that, according to him, Emmanuel Macron is the president "the most spendthrift of the Fifth Republic". During the first five-year period, public spending increased by "240 billion, including 60 billion excluding Covid", and should increase by "220billion for the next five years", he warned. "The trend is twice as fast as under François Hollande. We have to come to our senses."
Without a "trajectory that is both clear, ambitious and credible for reducing the public deficit", the LR senators will not vote for the draft law on the programming of public finances (LPFP), presented next September, said Gérard Larcher.
