For his first official outing, the Minister of the Economy and Finance met the bosses of local U2P businesses.
Representatives of the U2P, the third representative employers’ organization in France, were able to express their concerns to the new Minister of Economy and Finance this Thursday, September 26. Newly appointed to the Barnier government, Antoine Armand made his first official outing, to La Défense, to meet the bosses of local businesses. He presented himself to them as the first “interlocutor” for SMEs within the executive, in the absence of a specially dedicated portfolio.
At the heart of the questions of economic actors, the rumors of tax increases which accompany the completion of the 2025 budget. On the subject, Antoine Armand endeavored to reassure his interlocutors: “We will not be the government of taxes in all directions and I will not be the minister of tax confiscation,” he promised, according to AFP. He repeated his desire, expressed the day before before the Assembly’s Finance Committee, to favor savings in public spending over tax efforts. Then, if necessary, to place the tax effort “on those who have the financial resources to power”.
“Act for those who are on the ground and working”
“Employment, attractiveness, growth, support for businesses, it should not be an ideological question (but) a social, economic, basic question, and that will be my compass,” insisted the new tenant. from Bercy. He also became Michel Barnier’s spokesperson: “The instruction given to us by the Prime Minister is to listen (…) and act for those who are on the ground and working” .
The minister was not in hostile territory. In a press release, the U2P indicated this Monday, September 23 to take “note of the composition of Michel Barnier’s Government” and invited “to leave aside political postures to devote 100% to the recovery of the country.”
