As Jean-Hervé Lorenzi, the president of the economic meetings of Aix-en-Provence said at the end of the special session dedicated to the Minister of Economy Eric Lombard, it only took the latter to send an essential message: the need to reduce the public deficit, and therefore to validate the budget that is preparing to present on July 15. “We are at a historic moment, because since last night, we have borrowed more expensive than Italy.”
In other words, the rates to which creditors are ready to lend to France are higher than those from which our neighbor benefits, due to the financial situation of France. “This year, the debt burden is 67 billion euros, more than the defense budget, and in three years it will be 100 billion, so if we do not stabilize debt, we will lose any capacity for sovereignty, the ability to invest, to prepare the future, and therefore for that, we have to make an effort, which has been made in history, of stabilization of public expenditure, because we have 57% of GDP (gross domestic product, editor’s note) of public expenditure, and it is by the adjustment of the expense that we will restore balance and not by tax increases, this is the theme that the Prime Minister will develop on July 15. “ hammered the Minister of the Economy, before going to the political field.
Protect industry vis-à-vis China
“You are going to tell me, you have no majority, no we have no majority, except that it is a subject of national interest, (…) So we are working with all the parties, we are doing right now what we have done in January, to have the finance law adopted for 2025, we receive in Bercy, with Amélie de Montchalin, all the parties, we started, we will have seen them all for the presentation of July 15. Presented, we will start to discuss and we will continue at the start of the school year.
Eric Lombard, in his presentation in front of a packed room, also called, while commercial negotiations between the European Union and the United States are coming to an end, to protect the European industry vis-à-vis China.
“We have to change the rules of the European game. We must protect our industry. We have done so by starting to erect customs barriers, we did it on steel, and we must strengthen these barriers. We did it on the automobile, but we must do it on all of our industrial segments, otherwise the Chinese policy which consists in each industrial segment to have a production capacity that global, will kill our industry. ”
The Minister of the Economy underlined the proximity of vision with the German coalition, whose representatives he will meet next week in Berlin “To find a very dynamic political agenda.”
The tenant of Bercy finally believes that an agreement could be reached this weekend between Europe and the United States concerning customs tariffs. “Otherwise it will probably be necessary that Europe demonstrates more rigor in the response to restore balance.”
