Valérie Pécresse calls “those responsible for the deficits” to “a quarter of an hour of decency”

A few hours before the presentation of the draft budget for 2025 in the Council of Ministers, Valérie Pécresse wanted to assure Michel Barnier of her full support. “I support Michel Barnier because, in 2022, I said, during the presidential campaign, that the government had burned the coffers. No one listened to me, they even made fun of me and it continued in 2023, in 2024”justified the president of Les Républicains (LR) of the Île-de-France region this Thursday morning on RTL.

In a context of sharp deterioration in public finances, the government plan provides for nearly 60 billion euros in savings, of which 40 billion must be achieved through a reduction in spending and 20 billion through tax increases. “An extremely courageous and unpopular plugging budget” that Valérie Pécresse “accepted” because “the France boat is sinking”. “I accept it even if I find it very unfair for a community like Île-de-France,” she still lets it be known. “We are going to cut our revenue by 4% even though we have been saving for ten years”advances the one who prides herself on being at the head of “the best managed region in France”.

And while the tax increases announced by Michel Barnier have caused macronia to jump, the regional boss invites “all those who are responsible for these deficits have a quarter of an hour of decency”. Before giving in to a «adage» intended for the central bloc, in power for seven years: “Yesterday’s deficits are tomorrow’s taxes”. She nevertheless admits that “Taxes are never the right long-term solution.” Looking beyond this year of “clogging” financial, the former presidential candidate called for preparing “right now” the budget for the year 2026. “This 2026 budget, we must build a new France boat with a much slimmer State. (…) It must be built with reductions in structural spending,” she recommended.