On Tuesday 14 January, during his general policy speech to the National Assembly, France’s new Prime Minister, François Bayrou, set the target public deficit at “5.4% of GDP” by 2025, on the basis of GDP growth forecasts for this year reduced from 1.1% to 0.9%.
Last November, Michel Barnier’s previous government presented a seven-year budgetary programme for consolidating France’s public finances, which forecast a public deficit of 5.0% of GDP in 2025, compared with 6.1% in 2024, with the aim of returning to below 3% of GDP by 2029 (see EUROPE 13517/7).
Since last summer, France and seven other European Union countries have been subject to an excessive deficit procedure. Since then, the European Commission has recommended that the countries concerned consolidate their public finances in line with the budgetary trajectory set out in the national multiannual programmes (see EUROPE 13532/11).
The Bayrou government, whose urgent task is to adopt a 2025 budget for France, has yet to confirm 2029 as the target for bringing the public deficit below 3% of GDP. It could possibly review the trajectory defined in the multiannual budget programme.
France’s new Finance Minister, Éric Lombard, will present France’s budgetary and economic priorities to his Eurogroup counterparts on Monday 20 January. He had already spoken on Monday with the European Commissioner for Budgetary Affairs, Valdis Dombrovskis.
On Tuesday 21 January, the Ecofin Council will be asked to adopt the recommendations presented by the Commission in November. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)