The Minister of Economy and Finance, Éric Lombard, will invite all political parties to dialogue in the coming days in order to find compromises on the budget, he declared in an interview with the Tribune on Sunday.
“At the request of the Prime Minister, I will call on the political parties represented in the National Assembly and the Senate, as well as the parliamentary groups, to come and dialogue at the ministry with Amélie de Montchalin, the minister responsible for public accounts, and me- same,” said Éric Lombard in an interview published Saturday evening.
His predecessor, Antoine Armand, had ruled out discussing with the National Rally, which he placed outside the “republican arc”, before being reframed by former Prime Minister Michel Barnier.
Éric Lombard specifies in the weekly that he will call political parties and parliamentary groups from Sunday and that his “door will remain open until January 14, the date of the general policy speech” of Prime Minister François Bayrou, and also after .
“I don't want to close any doors. That's not my philosophy. We have an imperative to reduce deficits,” added the minister.
He intends to adjust the draft budget in order to include a deficit “a little above 5%” of gross domestic product (GDP) “in order to protect growth”.
France is the subject of an excessive deficit procedure and its public deficit is expected to rise above 6% this year while the European Union's Stability and Growth Pact limits budget deficits to 3% GDP.
The Minister of the Economy pleads for “tax increases, which must be very limited” and “additional savings”.
Plunged into political crisis since the dissolution of the Assembly decided by Emmanuel Macron in June, France has not been able to pass a budget for 2025.
In the meantime, the National Assembly adopted a special law in mid-December based on the 2024 budgetary guidelines to ensure the continuity of public services.
(Written by Kate Entringer)
