Gabriel Attal's hearing by the Senate Finance Committee was particularly tense this Friday morning.
Are the Republicans and the presidential Renaissance party really in the same camp? Considering the composition of the government, led by LR Michel Barnier, one might think so since 13 positions are occupied by members of Renaissance and 3 by Les Républicains.
But in the face of the particularly tense exchange, this Friday morning, between Jean-François Husson, Les Républicains senator and rapporteur of the Finance Committee, and Gabriel Attal, former Prime Minister and president of the Renaissance group in the National Assembly, there is enough to strongly doubt it.
Gabriel Attal was called to explain himself, this Friday morning, before the Senate Finance Committee as part of an information mission on the drift in public finances (estimated at 50 billion euros) with a current government which set the public deficit slippage at 6.1% of GDP.
The little sentence that annoys Attal
And for two hours, Gabriel Attal was subjected to the fire of criticism over his management of state accounts which he was accused of “not having kept”. Until this little sentence from Jean-François Husson, visibly made to be repeated: “There has been a whole series of announcements on new spending for agriculture, health, on emergency aid for the sector bio, the payment of the energy check, on Ukraine… Excuse me but from there, it goes completely wrong”, attacked the senator from Meurthe-et-Moselle. “When there is a gap of 50 billion in 9 months, it is a form of indigence and a lack of rigor in the keeping of our accounts.”
A few moments earlier, Gabriel Attal had denounced the “budgetary insincerity” of the political class and found the media and political trial made against his Minister of Economy and Finance at the time, Bruno Le Maire, “scandalous”. Faced with this attack from Jean-François Husson, Gabriel Attal seemed to see red and was going for a clash.
“No additional expenses that were not already financed”
“Tell me one state expenditure that slipped during the year 2024,” he asked. “Let's go over, theme by theme, what you have just said and I will explain everything to you”, then counter-attacked the former Prime Minister, assuring “that there was no additional expenditure which was not already financed” .
Sensing that Gabriel Attal wanted to take him on a slippery slope for him, Senator Husson evaded the question and returned to “the gap of 50 billion euros in the public accounts”.
“Nothing was ignored about the situation and the information that reached us,” Gabriel Attal had confided earlier, insisting on the fact that his government had taken “strong measures” to respond to the deterioration of revenues likely to aggravate the public deficit. Because, in its axis of defense, the former government mentions revenues at half mast compared to the budget.
“What expenses?”
“But here you are talking to me about additional expenses, I ask you which ones!” he asked Jean-François Husson in a firm tone. And to support his demonstration, Gabriel Attal returned to two points: the agricultural crisis with “announcements of 400 million euros financed by the solidarity fund of the Ministry of Agriculture therefore already present in the budget” and “the energy check that we give to the French every year and, therefore, present in the budget too.”
The debates on the 2025 budget had already strained relations between LR and Renaissance. This very virulent exchange between Jean-François Husson and Gabriel Attal could further weaken this strange coalition which seems less and less dedicated to inventing a solid future.
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