“At least ten billion euros. This is what the government intends to save to straighten out public accounts by 2027, Bruno Le Maire announced Monday, June 19 at the opening of the “public finance assizes”, in Bercy. These savings will have to be made in the areas of health, housing and employment aid, as well as with the gradual end of tax benefits for fossil fuels, said the Minister of Economy and Finance.

After escaping the caudine forks of agency S

Organized on his initiative and that of his colleague in charge of public accounts, Gabriel Attal, in the presence of Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne, these “assizes” follow the annual reviews of the expenditure of the State, communities and social administrations, launched a few months ago. However, they are shunned by the three main associations of local elected officials, who disagree with the analysis of the situation.

“Now that we are back to normal, who would understand that we continue to spend so much while these two big crises (…) are behind us? “, declared the Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire. “Our collective duty now is to protect our nation from debt. »

“No tax hike”

In order to reduce public debt and the public deficit until 2027, according to a more ambitious trajectory presented in April, “we have identified, in particular with our first review of public expenditure, at least 10 billion euros in savings”, underlined Bruno Le Maire.

“If we assume to have massively protected the French, these decisions have had consequences on our deficit and our debt and we must now consolidate our public finances to ensure the sustainability of our debt (…) Let the debt slip away, as proposed some, it’s bequeathing to our children less services, less social protection and more taxes, “added the Prime Minister.

To reduce it, Elisabeth Borne mentioned four levers: strengthening the “growth potential”, structural reforms that make it possible to increase the employment rate and stimulate activity, the fight against tax and social fraud, and controlling public spending. “We stick to a clear principle: no tax increases,” she reiterated. Regarding the control of public employment, Elisabeth Borne considered it “indispensable”, while excluding that civil servants could be “an adjustment variable”. Finally, the head of government wanted to “associate parliamentarians more closely” on the subject to find compromises.

These savings will have to be made in particular in the field of health, by fighting against the explosion of sick leaves and “the excesses” of drug expenditure, in that of housing, with the abolition of the Pinel system and the overhaul of the interest rate loan zero, which ultimately represents two billion euros, as well as by reducing support for employment, Bruno Le Maire had specified a little earlier.

“Companies have never had such a hard time recruiting. However, we continue to massively support employment. When the unemployment rate decreases, the cost of employment aid must decrease, “said the minister, referring to apprenticeship and the personal training account.

“Neither austerity nor angelism”

Another target, the tax advantages on fuels enjoyed by certain professions such as road hauliers or farmers (non-road diesel), while France is embarking on the shift to energy transition. They will be phased out by 2030, with support to enable these professions to make this changeover.

The objective is to reduce public spending from 57.5% of GDP in 2022 to 53.5%, to return the deficit to below 3%, against 4.7% at the end of 2022, and to reduce the debt, currently 111 .6%, to 108.3% in 2027. The government is also counting on the end of the energy shield, the gains from reforms such as pensions or unemployment insurance, full employment or even growth in economy that he anticipates more dynamic, after a slowdown in 2023.

To return to the nails, the government refuses any increase in taxes. “We are not proposing austerity or angelism: we are proposing responsibility,” said Bruno Le Maire.

These measures are deemed all the more necessary as the economic environment is getting tougher. Suspended during the Covid, the European budgetary rules will apply again next year and the sharp rise in interest rates is significantly increasing the debt burden, which could become the main item of State expenditure.

Already, the executive has multiplied the announcements in recent weeks. It thus froze an additional 1% of the credits of the 2023 budget (1.8 billion euros) which will be partially canceled and asked the ministries to generate 5% savings, excluding salaries, in 2024, in particular to finance the energy transition.

Between refusal to increase taxation and social tension in the face of high inflation, control of spending promises to be tricky, however, especially after a painful pension reform and without an absolute majority in the National Assembly. The recent promise of a tax cut of 2 billion euros for the middle classes and the new revaluation of the salary of civil servants testify to the difficulty of tightening the screw.