the paradoxical situation of the resigning Minister of the Economy who must defend, in Brussels, France's budgetary trajectory

With a Minister of the Economy, Antoine Armand, resigning and a 2025 budget still non-existent, France shows little credibility, and is losing influence while it has opposed the European Commission for several months on the free trade treaty. exchange with Mercosur.

The finance ministers of the euro zone will meet on Monday December 9 in Brussels for a European summit. To represent France, Antoine Armand, the resigning Minister of the Economy, will be present. A somewhat paradoxical presence, but in the absence of a new government, it is the minister who will have to defend the interests of France.

Another paradox, in substance, since Antoine Armand will once again defend France's request to have a deadline for a return to a deficit below 3% in 2029, to adhere to the rules of the European Commission. But this budgetary trajectory that he will therefore defend in front of his counterparts corresponds to measures included in an already obsolete budget, since Emmanuel Macron had clearly specified, following the fall of the Barnier government, that a special finance law was planned in a few days and a brand new draft budget, a PLF, for the beginning of 2025, made by the next government, the color of which we do not even know yet.

A presence therefore, under the sign of fragility. How can we reassure our European partners about our ability to regain political stability and be credible in these conditions? What worries our counterparts is whether we are able to find a political consensus to provide ourselves with a budget and take measures to restore our finances. We recall that with more than 6% deficit in 2024, France is in an excessive deficit procedure at European level.

Many already see the signing of the EU-Mercosur free trade treaty by Ursula von der Leyen in Montevideo in Uruguay on Friday December 6, despite protests from Paris, as a sign of France's loss of influence. A situation of withdrawal in Europe even though Donald Trump is due to take office in the White House at the start of 2025, and European countries are seeing many investors attracted, even more than before, by the United States. It is therefore up to her to appear attractive and not lose competitiveness.