The Ministers of the Economy, Éric Lombard, and of Public Accounts, Amélie de Montchalin, invited the political forces represented in the National Assembly to Bercy, to involve them in the preparation of the 2025 budget. Michel Barnier's government fell , in December, on the vote on this law, after having activated article 49.3 of the Constitution on the Social Security financing bill (PLFSS).
Among these guests from Bercy, representatives of the Socialist Party will be received Monday at noon. For some of them, the new Minister of the Economy is not unknown: Éric Lombard, a left-wing investment banker, classified as a social liberal, worked at the end of the 1980s within the socialist government. This is, among other things, why François Bayrou chose it.
Olivier Faure, the first secretary of the PS, does not hide being close to it, and describes him as a man of the left. The two men are also friends in life. Éric Lombard worked in socialist ministerial cabinets in the early 1990s, notably that of Michel Sapin, and supported the socialist Michel Rocard in the 1988 presidential election.
But the 66-year-old investment banker spent almost his entire career in banking and insurance, before taking the helm of the Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations in 2017. And at the PS everyone swears: not question of letting yourself be lulled or charmed by Éric Lombard. Especially since socialists remember the so-called left-wing personalities who joined Emmanuel Macron's governments: Olivier Dussopt, the former Minister of Labor, or Élisabeth Borne, the former Prime Minister. “These two have led the most antisocial policies in recent years”we choke at the PS.
It is difficult in these conditions to imagine that the appointment of Éric Lombard at the head of Bercy could smooth relations with the PS, or even prevent socialist deputies from voting for censure in the event of recourse to 49.3 on the budget. “We are not attached to a person, but to the policy pursued”sweeps away a socialist framework. “We are not coaxing”insists a close friend of Boris Vallaud, the leader of the PS deputies. The socialists repeatedly repeat that they are in opposition, and will therefore oppose the Minister of the Economy.
A good point, however, for Éric Lombard: his invitation, in particular to the PS, to come and discuss the budget in the coming days, before the debates in the Assembly on the subject resume. “It’s positive,” welcomes a PS elected official, who recalls that “Michel Barnier’s ministers had not done it.”
Everything will therefore depend on the content of the finance bill which will be presented to deputies. But whether it is Éric Lombard or another at Bercy, the socialists assure us: same copy, same sanction; same causes, same effects. There will be a motion of censure in the event of a budget that is too austere.
