The LFI-NFP MP and chairman of the Finance Committee believes that these figures prove that “this austerity policy is not working”.
A new unexpected slippage. This year, the public deficit would reach 5.6% of GDP this year instead of the hoped-for 5.1%, and would plunge to 6.2% in 2025, according to budget documents transmitted by Bercy on Monday and consulted by parliamentarians.
A letter was even sent on Monday evening to the general rapporteurs and the chairmen of the Finance Committees of the two assemblies, in which the resigning Minister of Finance Bruno Le Maire and the resigning Minister Delegate for Public Accounts Thomas Cazenave expressed concern about the “extremely rapid increase in local authority spending”.
“This austerity policy is not working and is only making the problem worse,” denounces Éric Coquerel, LFI-NFP MP for Seine-Saint-Denis and chairman of the Finance Committee, on BFM Business.
He points out the ineffectiveness of the outgoing government’s programme. Thus, with the drop in public revenues, the new Budget could well be a poisoned chalice for the new Prime Minister.
An ineffective austerity program
“Revenues have decreased and that is the main problem,” insists Eric Coquerel. The idea of this report would then be to explain to the next government that it will be necessary to “do even worse” in terms of austerity.
“The numbers are undeniable, but they can be changed,” he retorts.
On the one hand, the LFI-NFP MP is campaigning for the taxation of “all those who have benefited from the largesse of Emmanuel Macron’s policies”. In other words, going after the pockets of the ultra-rich. On the other hand, it would not be a question of working more but of better remunerating work to generate more contributions. “The purchasing power of the French has increased but not that of employees, it is mainly about wealth”, he explains.
Éric Coquerel, LFI-NFP MP, Chairman of the Finance Committee of the National Assembly – 03/09
Creating debt to finance the ecological transition
According to him, it would be better to promote an increase in salaries rather than attracting more capital from abroad. A model of “fairer” redistribution of wealth which is one of the cardinal points of the New Popular Front program.
“Creating debt to give tax breaks to capital is not normal, but to finance the ecological transition is!” adds Eric Coquerel. Massive investments in this sector would therefore be welcome, in particular to create jobs and generate “good debt”.
A meeting of the Finance Committee is scheduled for next week to hear “the future” Prime Minister, an announcement from Emmanuel Macron expected at the end of the week.
