Barthélémy Philippe // Photo credit: MAEVA DESTOMBES / HANS LUCAS / HANS LUCAS VIA AFP
08:37, October 11, 2024modified to
10:07 a.m., October 11, 2024
The French government unveiled its draft budget for 2025 this Thursday. The main objective of 60 billion euros in savings is official, but how will these be divided? Europe 1 takes stock.
A month after the appointment to Matignon, the Minister of the Economy Antoine Armand and his budget counterpart Laurent Saint-Martin presented the 2025 finance bill and that of financing Social Security this Thursday. The objective was known: reduce the deficit from 6.1 to 5% of GDP at the end of the year thanks to a plan of 60 billion euros in savings, two thirds of which involve cuts in public spending. The other remaining third comes through tax increases.
“I believe we are proposing a path of balance”
Public spending will fall by 40 billion euros. Half concerns the State and its operators, cuts in ministerial budgets will therefore reach 20 billion euros. There is damage to National Education which is losing 4,000 teaching positions, but also to business aid policies, particularly on the subject of apprenticeship. The rest of the effort is distributed between communities with 5 billion euros and Social Security 15 billion euros.
Despite everything, Laurent Saint-Martin defends a balanced budget. “I believe that we are proposing a path of balance, above all responsible. It is a path which excludes any fiscal bludgeoning and any austerity cure,” explains the Minister of the Budget.
No tax bludgeoning, but 20 billion in tax increases all the same. The exceptional contribution on the profits of large groups alone brings in 8 billion euros, while the 65,000 wealthiest households will pay a temporary tax which should bring in two billion euros. Finally, the State will collect three billion euros thanks to the increase in the electricity tax, the impact of which on bills will be offset by the fall in market rates.
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