For Michel Barnier’s government, the first major challenge will be to build the 2025 budget in the face of an Assembly without a clear majority. The urgency is real: after a summer marked by a political vacuum, the deadlines provided for by law will not be respected. The budget, initially planned for October 1, will instead be unveiled on October 9. The stakes are high, with a debt of 3,000 billion euros and a France under European surveillance for excessive deficit. In this context, Michel Barnier is opening the door to tax increases, a shift that Emmanuel Macron had so far refused to take. But is the situation of French finances really as serious as the government claims? To discuss it, our guest Jean-Claude Trichet, former president of the European Central Bank and former governor of the Bank of France.
Jean-Claude Trichet: “France is the third most indebted country after Greece and Italy”
