“The deficit will be the result of the consultations and the path that will be found during the consultations in Bercy and also for the PLFSS [projet de loi de financement de la Sécurité sociale]. So, we will first settle on this dialogue,” declared government spokesperson Sophie Primas in her press report from the first Council of Ministers of the Bayrou government. The latter did not confirm information from the newspaper The Worldaccording to which the government is targeting a public deficit of 5.4% of GDP this year, more than the 5% ambitioned by the previous government, after an expected slippage to 6.1% in 2024.
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Consult all political forces
With a view to involving them in the preparation of the 2025 budget, of which France is currently deprived due to the censorship of Michel Barnier’s government on December 4, the Ministers of the Economy, Eric Lombard, and of Public Accounts , Amélie de Montchalin, have planned to consult all the political forces represented in parliament. “First contacts” began on December 30, but discussions will formally begin next week, according to the Ministry of the Economy and Finance, which has not, however, communicated a precise timetable.
These meetings, scheduled until the day of the general policy declaration, will be the subject of conclusions which will translate “into government proposals amending the 2025 budget”. On the progress of the examination of the draft budget, the government spokesperson indicated that she had “no exact timetable to give yet”, but that “the main orientations will probably be in the general policy declaration “.
In December, François Bayrou said he hoped for adoption of the budget “in mid-February”, without however being “sure of getting there”. He had specified that he would start from “the copy that was voted on” in Parliament before censorship. In an interview with La Tribune on Sunday, the Minister of the Economy, Eric Lombard, specified that the deficit would be included in the budgetary text at “a little above 5%” of GDP “in order to protect growth” .
A budget to redefine
Bercy also did not confirm that the growth forecast would be lowered from 1.1% to 0.8% for 2025, as the newspaper states. L’Opinion.
In the absence of a budget, tax measures which had been proposed by the previous government cannot be renewed as such, underlined The Worldin particular the surtax on the profits of large companies, supposed to bring in eight billion euros in 2025. Concerning the exceptional contribution on high incomes, which was to generate two billion, “it cannot be kept as it is”, said declared Eric Lombard to Le Monde. “Perhaps we can find another measure of solidarity that would achieve roughly the same effect.”
Since January 1, a “special law” authorizes ministries to incur expenditure within the limit of appropriations opened in 2024, of which only a quarter has been released.
