Under the influence of a motion of censure which places him in a delicate position, Michel Barnier makes a gesture in the direction of Marine Le Pen. “I have decided not to increase taxes on electricity in the 2025 finance bill,” announced the head of government in Le Figaro this Thursday.
Result: Michel Barnier promises a “14% drop in electricity prices, which will therefore go well beyond the 9% drop initially planned”. This demand was a strong request from the leader of the National Rally, received at the beginning of the week in Matignon. “Whether it was in my majority or the opposition leaders that I received: almost all of them asked me to evolve,” he explains.
On the occasion of the Impact PME show, this Thursday in Paris, Michel Barnier indicated that he had spoken, before making this decision, with the four government support groups, the presidents of opposition groups (quoting Marine Le Pen or André Chassaigne , leader of PCF deputies) but also businesses. “I listened to everyone, taking into account their opinions and priorities,” he assures. This 14% reduction, according to him, will represent “several hundred million euros for businesses”.
“Barnier is backing down in the face of the RN deputies and the price of electricity will fall,” reacted the spokesperson for the RN deputies Laure Lavalette on “wise decision”.
The government of Michel Barnier is gambling for its survival in the face of the motion of censure that the National Rally threatens to vote with the left, perhaps as early as next week on the Social Security budget, failing to obtain commitments in favor of power purchase of the French, of which the far-right party has set itself up as guarantor. The RN also supports the left in its attempt on Thursday to repeal the much-maligned pension reform.
The executive wants to reduce the public deficit from 6.1% of GDP in 2024 to 5% in 2025, then below the European ceiling of 3% in 2029, while initiating a slow reduction in the colossal debt (112% of GDP at at the end of June, almost 3,230 billion euros). Without a budget, France will head straight into the wall, according to the government.
“Today we are facing an extremely serious situation for the country. The Prime Minister spoke of a storm. It is not a word chosen at random, it is a word which has a financial, economic and budgetary resonance, and we are obviously ready to make concessions to avoid this storm”, declared this Thursday morning the Minister of Economy and Finance, Antoine Armand, on BFMTV/RMC. “The gesture on electricity, we are ready for it,” he already conceded. On Tuesday, Michel Barnier assured on TF1 that he was going to “see if we can do more to preserve the purchasing power of the French”.
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