The French draft budget for 2025 must be presented on Thursday October 10. And this finance bill “will be fully in line with the new European budgetary rules”, assured this Monday, October 7, the Minister of the Economy and Finance Antoine Armand, a few hours before a meeting with his EU counterparts. in Luxembourg. “We made the budget to strengthen the financial and national sovereignty of the country,” the minister declared during a press briefing. Respecting European rules, which are “commitments that we ourselves have formulated and inspired, is a question of international credibility and sovereignty,” he said.
Head of a minority government, Prime Minister Michel Barnier is expected to turn the corner on this question of the budget, after having announced a considerable effort of 60 billion euros to regain control of a drifting public deficit and a debt reaching record highs. After an expected slippage to 6.1% this year, the government intends to reduce the public deficit to 5% from 2025 to return in 2029 below the limit of 3% tolerated by Brussels – 2.8% according to documents consulted by AFP -, two years later than what the previous government had promised.
The debt, at 3,228.4 billion euros at the end of June (112% of GDP), has swelled by a thousand billion since 2017, when Emmanuel Macron became president. It will approach 115% next year, almost double the maximum set at 60% by Brussels, before gradually decreasing. “Our objective is to bring our deficit below 3% by 2029” after a first “strong and credible” step to “5% in 2025”, reaffirmed the Minister of Finance.
“We must not accept fate”
Within the new government, Antoine Armand replaced Bruno Le Maire who had served as Minister of Economy and Finance for seven years. He stressed on Monday that Prime Minister Michel Barnier had entrusted him with “an extremely clear mandate: to defend French and European interests in the world” and “to continue to be a force for proposals in Europe”.
In addition to respecting European budgetary commitments, Antoine Armand affirmed the “determination of France” to move forward on two other major issues for the “sovereignty” of the country. On the one hand, he intends to get involved “personally” on the subject of “strengthening the competitiveness” of the European Union. “The EU is falling behind China and the United States in strategic areas,” he warned, referring to the reports of two former Italian Council presidents Mario Draghi and Enrico Letta, published this year. “We must not accept fate,” declared Antoine Armand, emphasizing that we must work to “deepen the single market and strengthen European industrial policy.”
On the other hand, the minister called for “the deepening of the single European market” and in particular the “Capital Markets Union”. This is a “fundamental project in view of the financing wall that stands before us” particularly for the digital and climate transition.