The Minister of Budget and Public Accounts, Laurent Saint-Martin, said on Sunday that he was not “opposite” in “shocked” to the idea of selling State stakes in certain companies to pay off the French debt, although expressing some reservations.
“I have never opposed the debate on the sale of State participations”he said on France Inter, questioned about a proposal from former ministers Olivia Grégoire and Gérald Darmanin and MP Mathieu Lefèvre.
In a column published in La Tribune Sundaythe three deputies of the Renaissance party suggest giving in “participations in which the State itself no longer really understands either its role or its mission”. They target “notably 180 billion stakes in listed companies: selling only 10% of these stakes would bring in as much, or even more, than the counterproductive increase in corporate tax or the increase in labor costs planned by the government”they say.
The Minister of Public Accounts estimated on Sunday midday that it was a “interesting debate”while expressing some reservations. “We must always weigh between the transfer of shares which allows the repayment of the debt (…) and the shortfall in dividends that this creates if you sell your shares”he underlined, taking the example of the State’s participation in EDF.
In the 2025 budget, “There is an exceptional dividend paid by EDF, a public company. If EDF were no longer a public company tomorrow, this dividend would not contribute to reducing our deficit”he explained. “Each time, you have to look sector by sector, company by companyhe pleaded, but the principle of having a portfolio review of State participations and asking ourselves what the relevance of these participations is today does not shock me at all. »
