PARIS, Sept 9 (Askume) – France should stick to the outgoing government’s 2024 deficit-reduction target despite the risk of lower-than-expected tax revenues, Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire told lawmakers on Monday.
France’s deteriorating public finances will become a major challenge for new Prime Minister Michel Barnier as he faces the difficult choice of cutting spending, raising taxes or losing credibility with EU partners and financial markets .
“We can and must insist on achieving a deficit (target) of 5.1% (of GDP) by 2024, which is within our capabilities,” Le Maire said during his last appearance before the finance committee of the lower house of parliament.
“We cannot allow ourselves to fall behind the rest of the EU.”
Le Maire said France urgently needs to revise its 2024 budget to allow for a tax on pensions from energy companies and a tax on corporate share buybacks.
He said that by law, the next government must submit a 2025 budget bill to lawmakers by Oct. 1 and completely cancel some of the 16.7 billion euro spending allocations put on hold this year.
