“I’m afraid they haven’t told us everything” about the budget situation, says Gérard Larcher, believing that Bruno Le Maire and Emmanuel Macron ignored the warnings.
“A number of questions arise about the sincerity of what was presented to us in the fall of 2023 and what we were told in the spring.” of the Government in relation to the management of public accounts and the increase in the deficit, the President of the Senate, Gérard Larcher, told CNews-Europe 1 on Thursday morning. As a reminder, the deficit is expected to reach 6.1 % of gross domestic product (GDP) this year, and not 5.1%, as the previous government predicted in April.
“ The investigative commission of the National Assembly will say so, and in the Senate we have already led a mission to find out the reasons for the difference of 50 billion between the budget forecasts presented by the government in the fall of 2023 and the reality at the end of 2023. ‘autumn 2024’, He continued, welcoming the transformation of the finance commission of the National Assembly into a commission of inquiry into the fall of the public deficit.
“I’m afraid they haven’t told us everything.” Mr. Larcher added, before estimating that “the Minister of Economy and Finance [de l’époque, Bruno Le Maire], but also the President of the Republic » He ignored warnings about the drift of the deficit and public spending.
Larcher, a member of the Republicans (LR), then recalled his support for the Government of Michel Barnier, also on the right, as well as for the budget project he presented, while the votes of critics are that it is being raised – even from the right – regarding the increase in certain taxes and taxes on the income of the richest households. “ The priority is the reduction of public spending, it is not the increase in taxes, but we see clearly that the sum of the two, by 2025, is necessary.”taking into account the economic situation in France, declared Larcher.
The president of the Senate also gave his support to the Minister of the Interior, Bruno Retailleau, on immigration, while the former president of the LR senators declared last week that “don’t stray[ait] there is no a priori solution »on transfer centers for illegal immigrants outside the European Union (EU). Gérard Larcher also estimated that a new immigration law was necessary in 2025 – although not all the provisions of the latest one, adopted last year, have yet been applied –, opposing former Prime Minister Gabriel Attal.
“We need a completed law because we have already approved a law on immigration, it was censored mainly for formal reasons and therefore returning to the text is a necessity because we need a policy for regulating migratory flows that is complete and provides us with. the tools to act”declared the president of the Senate.
