Paris is still chasing the rules of Brussels – Libération

By announcing in his general policy declaration that the public deficit will not return below 3% of GDP before 2029, Michel Barnier is further breaking European rules. Without (yet) taking a risk of real sanctions.

By postponing from 2027 to 2029 the return of the French public deficit below 3% of GDP, as required by the Stability and Growth Pact (PSC), Michel Barnier surprised no one in Brussels given the uncontrolled slippage of national accounts: instead of the 5.1% announced, the deficit should be around 6% in 2024 even though France is not in recession. A feat.

Therefore, reducing the deficit by 3 percentage points in three years will have a brutal recessive effect that no one wants. Especially since Germany, the heavyweight of the euro zone, is already in recession due to the collapse of its mercantilist model which made it dependent on Russia for its energy, on China for its trade and on the States -United for its defense. The problem is that the PSC, suspended in March 2020 during the Covid crisis, has applied again since January, which means that the double rule of a maximum 3% deficit and 60% public debt must be respected. Moreover, in June, the Commission launched an excessive deficit procedure against five countries in the euro zone (which has twenty), including France and Italy, in order to force them to fall into line. .

Fortunately for Paris,