Only 8% of French people concerned about state debt and deficits, according to a study

The French do not suffer from “detto-anxiety”. The term was recently used in Le Figaro by columnist Samuel Fitoussi to highlight a certain asymmetry between the chronic fear of the climate crisis (called “eco-anxiety”) which is spreading in society and the little fear aroused by a staggering debt, continuing its frantic race beyond 3,000 billion euros in general indifference. New figures corroborate this observation: 8% of French people say they are “personally concerned” by the level of debt and deficits in the 11th wave of the “French Fractures” study carried out by Ipsos-Sopra Steria for Le Monde, the Jean-Jaurès Foundation, Cevipof and the Institut Montaigne.

Pollsters asked respondents to choose, among a dozen issues, “the two that concern (them) the most personally.” Relegated to eighth place among the main concerns, the debt and deficits of the State leave the podium, monopolized by purchasing power (46%), in the lead, but also now, in second position, by the protection of environment (30%). Followed by the future of the social system and immigration, with 24% of respondents concerned about each of the two issues. The Ipsos-Sopra Steria study reveals that one in three French people also consider that debt reduction should not constitute a priority for public authorities.

This lack of concern for public finances depends greatly on the political camp. Voters from left-wing parties are only very little sensitive to this: 3% of supporters of France Insoumise and the Communist Party say they are concerned about the public debt, 1% for Europe Écologie-Les Verts, 4% for the Socialist Party. The proportion climbs to 19% within Emmanuel Macron's party (which displays strong ambitions on the subject) and to 8% among Republican voters. 7% of Marine Le Pen's voters say they are concerned about public finances, compared to 12% for Reconquête.

Against the decline in French concerns about the level of debt and deficits, public finances are on alert. French debt continued to grow in the second quarter of 2023, reaching a record level of 3,046.9 billion euros. The weight of this debt still clearly exceeds that of national wealth: the money owed by France reaches 111.8% of gross domestic product.

This dependence of the State on money from the financial markets becomes even more dramatic in the macroeconomic context we are going through. The rates at which France borrows for its ten-year securities are currently around 3.4%, compared to less than 0% just a few months ago. With the immediate result of an increase in interest reimbursement costs in public finances: 52 billion euros in 2024, 56 billion in 2025, 61 billion in 2026 and more than 70 billion in 2027.

A situation that forces the government to be combative. “Spending money on the expense only because interest rates have increased, I find that this is as much money that could have gone to hospitals, to colleges, to nurseries, to universities, towards green investments, towards the decarbonization of our economy,” declared the Minister of the Economy and Finance, Bruno Le Maire, in the spring, without however succeeding in reducing France's structural deficits on the occasion of the draft law. finances for 2024.

The text of the budget for the coming year, which arrives in committee at the National Assembly this Tuesday, provides for a return below the threshold of 3% public deficit (as required by France under European rules, at least in theory) by 2027. Public debt is expected to reach 108.1% of GDP by this date, thanks in particular to a planned reduction in state spending. The boss of Bercy, Bruno Le Maire, ordered the elected representatives of the majority to make the “duty to fight the debt” a real “political line”. With the aim of saving an additional 1 billion euros on the budget thanks to the amendments of the majority parliamentarians.