Macron reaffirms his desire not to increase taxes

On taxes, Emmanuel Macron persists and signs. Although certain voices within the majority, like Yaël Braun-Pivet, are pushing the President of the Republic to increase them to redress the public accounts, the Head of State continues to refuse to do so. “Should the answer be to change policy? There was this debate. Some pushed him. I did not want it because our policy gives results,” explains Emmanuel Macron in an interview with La Tribune Dimanche.

A policy which should allow France to achieve full employment, promises the president. “This is the objective that we have been pursuing since 2017. We have results. We must go further, insists Emmanuel Macron. If we achieve full employment, if businesses take advantage of the stability of our supply policy and invest, we will resolve a good part of our public finance issue.” Emmanuel Macron had made this the priority ambition of his second five-year term: in 2027, France will reach full employment, falling below 5% unemployment.

A prospect that his own Minister of Economy and Finance had buried at the beginning of March. This disagreement has caused tensions between Emmanuel Macron and his minister who no longer hides his presidential ambitions for 2027. “With a constant social model, we will not succeed,” affirmed Bruno Le Maire on France Inter, who had pointed the finger the largesse of the welfare state, starting with the duration of compensation for the unemployed, too long for his taste. A duration which could be gradually reduced to 12 months compared to the current 18 months.

In the meantime, France must face a delicate budgetary situation: the 2023 deficit slips to 5.5% of GDP in 2023 while the government expected it to be around 4.9%. To reassure the rating agencies, led by Moody's which has not downgraded France's rating, Bruno Le Maire assured that France's deficit will fall, as the executive has predicted, below 3% in 2027. .