“It is not necessarily a question of finding those responsible, but of understanding,” says the vice-president of the Finance Committee

“When you have such a significant gap of this nature with the forecast, you have to understand the reasons,” explained Véronique Louwagie on franceinfo.

How can we find 20 billion in additional revenue to supplement 60 billion in savings? The question is on the agenda of the Assembly Finance Committee. A ritual exercise, which has become a pitched battle in the absence of a majority, the examination of the very political state budget begins on Wednesday October 16 in committee at the Assembly, against a backdrop of discord in the government camp and mistrust over the reasons for the deficit.

Another key element: the Assembly paved the way for the creation of a commission of inquiry to identify the causes of the unexpected deterioration in the public deficit, forecast at 6.1% of GDP this year, or 50 billion euros more than the 4.4% voted last year.

“It is not necessarily a question of finding those responsible, but it is a question of understanding“, said this Wednesday the Republican Right MP (ex-LR) from Orne and vice-president of the Finance Committee of the National Assembly, Véronique Louwagie. “When you have such a significant deviation from the forecast, you have to understand the reasons.“, she explained on franceinfo.

“The commission of inquiry will help us understand to prevent this from happening again“, assured Véronique Louwagie because “France cannot afford to make an error of this nature again“. “The French have the right to know, must know and must be able to trust their elected officials“, she continued. “There must be truth and transparency“, according to her.

The public finance deficitis unpublished”she was alarmed. “It has never happened, outside of periods of crisis, that a deficit deteriorates to this point“, she pointed. “It is clear that today, in 2024 as in 2023, revenue is lacking, revenue is collapsing and on the other hand, expenditure is soaring“, underlined the right-wing elected official. According to her, “the alert should have been issued at the end of 2023 since in 2023, we were already seeing these deviations from forecasts“. Initially forecast at 4.9% by the government in November 2023, the 2023 public deficit skidded to 5.5% of GDP.