The Prime Minister, Gabriel Attal, “does not believe” that the “budgetary seriousness” of his Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire, who recently experienced strong tensions with the executive over the budget, hides other ambitions like the presidential election. “He is Minister of Finance in charge of accounts, it is normal that he reminds us of the pressing need to be serious with the French’s money. It turns out that in Matignon he has a prime minister who was his minister delegate for the Budget and who is therefore perfectly aware of these issues,” said Gabriel Attal on Friday evening (Saturday morning, Paris time) in front of several journalists, in margin of a trip to Canada.
“I do not believe that there is a presidential ambition behind the budgetary seriousness advocated by Bruno Le Maire. These are questions that are important but I would not base a personal political ambition solely on these subjects” of budgetary policy, added the head of government. “To bring the French along, to enthuse a country and prepare a campaign, the debate of whether it is better 5.1%, 5% or 4.9% is…, good.” “Everyone does what they want,” but “there are plenty of subjects to talk about,” he continued.
Gabriel Attal assured Thursday from Ottawa that the budget was “held”, after a revision of forecasts on the deficit which will still reach 5.1% of GDP in 2024 and will require finding an additional 10 billion euros in savings this year, for a return to a deficit of 2.9% in 2027. He rejects, like the President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron, the idea of going through a amending finance bill (PLFR) for 2024, suggested by Bruno Le Maire but likely to open the way to a motion of censure from the opposition.
Gabriel Attal also observed that there was a “plethora” of “people in the majority who are looking forward to 2027, who are talking about 2027, who are saying I am not excluding anything, I will be available for the French, the election of Le Pen is likely.” Like former Prime Minister Edouard Philippe, in his eyes “officially a candidate”. For his part, the head of government “claims the right not to (pronounce) on the subject” of the presidential election. “I have never talked about 2027, but I have the impression that I am the one people are looking for most on this issue,” he noted.
