After the binge, the bill? The new French government of Michel Barnier presented the main lines of its proposed 2025 budget on Thursday evening, promising to cut public spending by £50 billion while raising taxes across the board. It’s belated austerity for a state with a fiscal policy that has previously resembled dine and dash.
The intention is to reduce the deficit to 5 per cent of GDP next year, before trying to go below 3 per cent in 2029. Meanwhile, France’s debt of 3.3 trillion Euros will increase.
This is a punishment beating for the most successful and productive companies and individuals in France
Like one of those mille feuille pastries, there are layers of irony to this. The centrists now trying to cure the financial crisis are largely the exact same people who created it. These are the myrmidons of President Macron, the ‘Mozart of finance,’ who presided over a trillion Euro increase in the country’s debt since he was first elected in 2017.
Britain’s best politics newsletters
You get two free articles each week when you sign up to The Spectator’s emails.
Already a subscriber? Log in
Comments
Join the debate for just $5 for 3 months
Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for $5.
UNLOCK ACCESS Just $5 for 3 monthsAlready a subscriber? Log in