She claims to have “no red lines but strong convictions”: responsible, with Eric Lombard, for providing France with a budget in 2025, the Minister of Public Accounts Amélie de Montchalin revealed the first ideas in an interview granted At Parisian Sunday January 5, before receiving the different political forces in Bercy from this Monday. “Let’s be clear: this budget will neither be that of the right, nor that of the left, nor that of the center. It will not be the ideal budget of a party, it will be that of the country,” she assures.
“The special law, which made it possible to simply extend that of last year, is not tenable. We do not want a France with minimum service” and “we need a budget”, insists the minister, according to who “we must find a compromise and everyone must take a step”. “The special law was passed unanimously, we can find a majority” on the budget, according to her. “We will start from the texts under discussion in Parliament. Some elements have reached consensus, it would be absurd not to keep them. Others have contributed to censorship: we must take them into account, discuss them with the political forces and significantly amend the budget”, adds Amélie de Montchalin.
Big businesses contribute, not the middle class
“Compared to the text from the Senate, we are still missing more than ten billion euros in savings,” she estimates, calling for public spending to be made “more efficient”. “Everyone can and should save more,” she says. “I will make proposals so that the deficit at the end of 2025 does not significantly exceed 5%” of GDP, while the previous government aimed for 5%, after an expected slippage to 6.1% in 2024, she summarizes. According to press information, the government is targeting a public deficit of 5.4% of GDP this year.
“We do not have a totem economic measure”, again declares Amélie de Montchalin, saying she is “opposed to blind measures, to the planer” and inviting the use of “parliamentary work” or “independent institutions like the Court of accounts that offer savings.
The minister says she wants to “keep the additional contribution on large companies as well as the tax on share buybacks” just like “the tax on plane tickets”. On the other hand, she warns: “No new taxes or tax increases which would penalize the purchasing power of the middle class. (Increase in) VAT is therefore not an option considered.” Asked about the efforts required of communities, she describes “the last agreement which provided for around two billion euros in savings” as a “courageous agreement”.
The Minister of the Economy announced at the end of December to invite all parties to dialogue, hoping to find “compromises” and “adjust” the finance bill prepared by the former Barnier government, left pending during the parliamentary shuttle by the censorship of December 4.
Monday, Marc Fesneau, president of the MoDem group in the National Assembly, will be received at 9:00 a.m. Followed at 12:00 p.m. by Olivier Faure, first secretary of the Socialist Party, Boris Vallaud, president of the Socialist group in the National Assembly, and Patrick Kanner, his counterpart in the Senate. Environmentalists and communists should be received on Wednesday. According to a government source, consultations with political forces on the PLFSS (Social Security financing bill) will begin on Tuesday.