At the start of the school year, the minister wishes to organize “public finance meetings”, bringing together parliamentarians and the executive, in order to “redefine the major choices of French public policies”.
The boss of Bercy reiterates his warning message on public finances. Invited to economic meetings in Aix-en-Provence, the Minister of Economy and Finance repeated that it was essential to restore public finances. “Inflation multiplies the burden of debt […]. Every euro counts, and not everything is financially possible, I prefer to say it as clearly as that before we examine the text on purchasing powerin Parliament, launched Bruno Le Maire.
The 2023 budget should be an opportunity to reduce France’s spending, in order to put the accounts back in line, noted the member of the government, who proposes a different method to achieve this objective, divided into three points. First, to constitute atask forceto Parliament, so that “it is parliamentarians who take up the subject, and no longer the government“. This team shouldradically rethink public spending“, in order to question the choices of use of public funds and to cut funding where they would no longer be justified. “I pass the ball to them and I ask them to make me proposals on this subject», Launched the Minister towards the parliamentarians.
SEE ALSO – Purchasing power: the fuel discount replaced by a “worker’s allowance”
Read alsoThe sharp rise in interest rates will put a further strain on public finances
Then, at the start of the school year, Bruno Le Maire wishes to organize “foundations of public finances», bringing together parliamentarians and the executive, in order to «redefine the major choices of French public policy“. What to limit the expenses, in the consultation, estimates the close friend of Emmanuel Macron, and to avoid being satisfied with “small shaves on expenses“: “It gives the 5 euros of APL, I’m not sure it’s our greatest political success of the previous five-year term“, judged the minister. Finally, the head of Bercy wishes to affect “some recipesto certain expenditures, for example by directing tax revenue from taxes on fossil fuels towards the fight against global warming. A “revolution“, he underlined.
This speech comes as many voices warn about the state of public accounts after two years of crisis. At the end of June, the minister himself had already sounded the alarm bell, indicating that the “high alerthad been reached, while interest rates are rising all over the world. A few days earlier, the head of the Banque de France, François Villeroy de Galhau, warned decision-makers, declaring in our columns that he “would be an illusion to think that our debt is still without cost and without limit“. This week, the Court of Auditors also called for France not to settle “in a systematic and perpetual “whatever the cost”“.
It remains to be seen whether Bruno Le Maire’s proposal, which also aims to prove the good faith of the executive in terms of consultation with parliamentarians, will be received favorably by the latter. The debates in the National Assembly and the Senate around the package on purchasing power promise to be eventful, each party advancing its own tracks in favor of households. The executive, for its part, calls for reason, ensuring that its own package is financed by more revenue than expected: “We must not refrain from spending, but we must ask ourselves the necessary questions before incurring major expenses.“, nuance the Minister Delegate in charge of Public Accounts, Gabriel Attal, at Parisian, this Sunday.
The Mayor denounces the position of the American Supreme Court on abortion
The strong man of macronie also called for a quick return to the labor shortage, which many sectors are suffering and which Le Maire has defined as the “second emergencybehind purchasing power. Work “should pay betterrepeated the Minister once again, also calling on right-wing parliamentarians to join the executive on this issue. “It is unacceptable“that many branches keep wage levels below the minimum wage, he also regretted.
Bruno Le Maire also returned to the recent decision of the Supreme Court of the United States on abortion, denouncing “the biggest setback for a liberal democracy in a century“. “When an individual right as fundamental as abortion is called into question […]it is the whole spirit of liberal and American democracy that is put lower than such“, he got carried away, before calling to create a”collective mobilizationon this subject in France to enshrine this right in the tricolor constitution.
SEE ALSO – Purchasing power: “Companies that can increase wages must do so”, urges Bruno Le Maire