The boss of the distribution giant E.Leclerc was invited to LCI this Thursday morning. To the question of the journalist who asked him if he could get involved in politics, Michel-Edouard Leclerc replied: “I think about it all the time” and “I am not yet a candidate for Bercy, I think about it when I shave”. “I don’t exclude anything, I want to be socially useful, if I can help people younger than me to grow […] There are times, it’s true that I am so sad to see the level of debate sometimes in the National Assembly,” he added.
Asked about his preferences in terms of political parties, he indicated that he was “from a social democratic background, we need the market, I also believe in regulation, I look at everyone”, continued Mr. Leclerc. “I am European, without Europe we are nothing but rubbish. I am a regionalist, I am Breton, I am a private entrepreneur, but we must have projects. The European elections, we must not go there only to seek revenge for French domestic politics”, he further commented.
“Review the tax system”
Michel-Edouard Leclerc was also questioned about the French deficit soaring to 5.5% of GDP in 2023 as well as the government’s desire “not to increase taxes on the middle classes”, reiterated Wednesday evening by the Prime Minister Gabriel Attal. To the question “you are super rich, would you be ok to pay more taxes?”, Mr. Leclerc replied: “I am not as rich as the boss of TF1 but I am doing well, I think he “We need to review the tax system and probably pay more tax in the name of more egalitarian policies, for social cohesion, but I say that that does not solve the French debt problem.”
The French debt, “I am not dramatizing it. If we really make the investments that we are announcing, in the energy plan, in the plan for railway equipment for the SNCF, in the plan for energy transition and decarbonization, it’s a good investment which will bring a lot of money to France”, according to him. “The rating agencies, ok, we may lose a little A, a point etc., but the important thing is to make these investments. Hand over money without attacking the conditions of the expenditure, without evaluating what we invest, I am against,” he summarized.