Some prefer to laugh about it. In 3,228 billion euros at the end of June, according to figures revealed by the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies, on Friday, September 27, French public debt reached such levels that it has now earned Bruno Le Maire a place in the race for the Press Club short. phrase award “the most hilarious thing of the year” – unintentionally in this specific case. “If our debt level is high today it is because I saved the French economy”declared the former Minister of Economy, on 1Ahem June, on BFM-TV, to defend his record.
Four months later, the formula can seem really out of place. The French economy has certainly overcome the impact of Covid-19, continuing to grow slightly when Germany is in recession and unemployment is at its lowest level in forty years. But the price of these actions seems extraordinarily high. “Whatever it takes”, this large distribution of public money thanks to which France avoided a deep crisis, lasted beyond the pandemic and led the country into massive debt. To the point that debt has become a problem, a threat. Not only is it weighing more and more on public finances, but it cannot be ruled out that it will lead the country into a spiral of financial difficulties, of which the current tension over rates offers an overview.
“Mr 1 Billion”, this is how his opponents began to nickname Bruno Le Maire before leaving the government. In fact, the French public debt, calculated according to the criteria of the Maastricht Treaty, increased from 2,281 billion to more than 3,200 billion euros in seven years, from 2017 to 2024, a period during which the former minister led Bercy. It further increased by 68.9 billion in the second quarter of 2024, after an increase of 58.3 billion in the previous quarter.
Expressed as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP), it stands at 112%. After three years of decline, this decisive rate has risen again since the beginning of the year. Its level places France very far from European standards, which require States to keep their public debt at less than 60% of GDP. Of the twenty-seven members of the European Union (EU), another twelve do not meet this criterion. But France is a particularly problematic student and always promises to get his act together without succeeding. In the EU, only Greece and Italy have a higher debt in relation to the production of national wealth.
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