Macron advocates “audacity” to the Bayrou government

PARIS (Reuters) – President Emmanuel Macron called for “audacity” from the government during the first council of ministers of the executive led by François Bayrou held on Friday, government spokesperson Sophie Primas said .

“The President of the Republic called for unity (…) but he also insisted on the fact that we must be bold, that is to say, get out of the usual paths to find solutions together , which are solutions perhaps unthought of until now and which allow us to move forward,” she told the press after the council of ministers.

The Head of State indicated “that we should not coast along the shore, to use his exact expression, but we will have to be bold and not just manage”, added Sophie Primas.

François Bayrou was appointed last month to the post of Prime Minister after the fall of Michel Barnier's government and presented a government called, according to him, to “emerge from the observation of impotence” in the face of a fragmented National Assembly which threatens new censorship .

Among the priorities of the new government is the development of a budget for 2025, on which the previous executive failed. The latter said he was counting on a public deficit of 5% of gross domestic product (GDP) for this year.

In an interview with La Tribune at the end of December, the new Minister of Economy and Finance, Éric Lombard, spoke of a deficit “a little above 5%”.

On Friday, the daily Le Monde, citing sources, reported that the public deficit target had been set at 5.4% of GDP in 2025.

Asked about this figure, Sophie Primas did not wish to answer.

“The deficit will be the result of the consultations and the path that will be found during the consultations in Bercy and also for the PLFSS [projet de loi de financement de la sécurité sociale]” she said.

“We are going to set this dialogue first,” she continued, adding that the government was “not losing sight of the objective (…) of reducing France’s debt”.

(Written by Blandine Hénault)