It is one of those passes of arms which ministerial offices have the secret. Since the start of the school year, a sensitive political and budgetary debate has reopened in the discussions of the executive: purchasing power. At the end of the summer, the price of raw materials soars, in particular oil and gas, in turn pulling electricity, and this begins to weigh on the pocketbook of the French. In September, the government has already revalued the “energy check” of 100 euros, and regulated the prices of gas and electricity. But now the price of gasoline is soaring, too. As in 2018, at the time of the “yellow vests” crisis. The lack of responsiveness of power to the beginning of the sling was then pointed out, the then Prime Minister, Edouard Philippe, showing himself inflexible. No question of reproducing the same error, three years later. Emmanuel Macron wants to ward off discontent as quickly as possible.
On October 14, the Head of State took the opportunity of a trip to Seine-Saint-Denis to promise in front of the cameras a “Short-term action” in order to “Leave no one in disarray”. Over the next few days, ministers followed one another in the media to tweak hypotheses: a fuel tax cut, a check, or even a combination of the two? The subject is far from simple. How to be sure to help the most modest motorists, and not the owners of SUV? How to relieve the household wallet without encouraging the consumption of fossil fuels?
Above all, how to unlock aid without fueling criticism from those who, like President The Republicans of the Hauts-de-France region, Xavier Bertrand, accuse the executive of “Campaign with the checkbook” in the run-up to the 2022 presidential election? In a small committee, the Prime Minister, Jean Castex, assumes. “I’m not going to put the pencil down, on the pretext that there are electoral deadlines”, he justifies.
Bercy opposition
Only here it is: it has been months that Bercy announces the end of “whatever the cost”. The powerful finance ministry has just cut, at the end of September, the tap of emergency aid for companies, after eighteen months of uninterrupted support linked to the crisis due to Covid-19 and its economic and social consequences. The Minister of the Economy, Bruno Le Maire, repeats over and over again that France, with its debt equivalent to 114% of national wealth, can at any time find itself plagued by the voracity of the financial markets. His administration would prefer that the government not seek to fill all the holes in the shell of household purchasing power. Otherwise, we’ll never end.
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