French Prime Minister Michel Barnier acknowledged on Sunday that his country is “in a very serious situation” with a public debt of more than three trillion euros and does not rule out raising taxes on the rich, insisting that credibility must be guaranteed in the eyes of the markets.
“I am not going to increase taxes on all of the French who already pay more taxes than all other Europeans,” he said. Barnier in his first interview after the announcement of the composition of his Government On Saturday, on the public television channel France 2.
He added that he had not raised them “for the most modest, nor for the working class, nor for the middle class”, but at the same time he pointed out that “I am not going to exclude the richest people from participating in the national effort that will have to be made”.
France is in a delicate financial situation with a public deficit which rose last year to 5.5% of gross domestic product (GDP) when the budget forecast was 4.9%. tesoro has anticipated that this year France will end with a deficit of 5.6%, far from the 3% limit recommended by European rules, and with a debt of 112%.
The new conservative prime minister has recalled that since most of the French debt has been issued on international markets, and in the hands of foreigners, “France’s credibility must be maintained.”
The European Commission France was opened in July into an excessive deficit procedure and the outgoing government had set itself the goal of reducing the deficit to 3% of GDP by 2027, but few have considered this path credible, starting with the governor of the Bank of France, Francois Villeroy de Galloiswhich has opted for a longer period.
Barnier has recalled that, as he said after taking office on 5 September, “I do not want to aggravate the fiscal or ecological debt.”
This has meant that “a collective effort must be made to control public spending,” which involves making it more effective and evaluating it.
Starting from the observation that “there is no majority” that would support his Government on its own, the Prime Minister has said that the basis of 220-230 deputies which it has, out of a total of 577 in the National Assembly, “will be open” to other formations.
“We are going to make commitments,” he said, after criticising the leaders of left-wing parties, who have announced that they will present a motion of censure as soon as possible, “before I have opened my mouth” and have been able to present my political programme.
This program will be made official in the Parliament with a general policy speech scheduled for October 1.
If the left-wing coalition, which is the main bloc in the National Assembly With 193 deputies, the extreme right has already prepared this motion of censure, Marine Le Pen He preferred to wait to see the general policy speech and the budget project, which should arrive on October 9.
Source: www.vozpopuli.com
