A Minister of Economy publicly questioning the budget that he himself helped prepare, to twist the Prime Minister’s arm and force him to revise his common copy… A more curious situation than the one caused, on Thursday, November 21, by Antoine Armand . It says a lot about the internal tensions in the government, the fractures within the coalition that supposedly supports it and the fragility of a project that is constantly being reworked.
What is at stake this time are the rate reductions that companies benefit from. In search of savings, Michel Barnier had planned to reduce them by 4 billion euros. But, as the days went by, the employers and the Macronists increased the pressure to reverse this measure. On Thursday, a few hours before a fixing meeting in Matignon, the Minister of Economy himself took the initiative and warned the head of Government in an interview given to Parisian : “Beware of excess taxes! Companies should not be the adjustment variable. » And this close friend of Gabriel Attal added: “Deviating from the pro-business line followed since 2017 would be a fundamental error. »
A speech applauded by the former prime minister and the Macronist deputies. “When you are loyal (…)We have more possibilities to face adversity”Barnier slipped in his speech at the Congress of intercommunity mayors and presidents, in response to his minister.
Prepared in two weeks by Michel Barnier from the draft left by the previous government, is the 2025 budget being undone? By acceding to everyone’s demands, releasing 500 million euros here, 1,000 million or 2,000 million there, will the Government be able to achieve its initial objective of cleaning up public accounts?
A critical issue for both the economic and political credibility of Michel Barnier. The markets, which already have many doubts about the reality of the announced austerity plan, run the risk of punishing France at any moment with a sharp increase in interest rates. And the growing tensions around the budget accentuate the threat of a fall of the government, due to the vote on a motion of censure on this text.
Budget and political uncertainty
“Economic policy becomes illegiblesummarizes the (renaissance) deputy for Lower Rhine Charles Sitzenstuhl, although he is supposed to support the government. Nobody knows if the priority is supply or demand, companies or individuals, attractiveness or consumption. Although Michel Barnier stated that the recovery would happen mainly through savings in spending, and a little through taxes, each passing day proves the opposite: we are preparing for a fiscal shock worthy of a left-wing government. »
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