The “priority” of the new government will be the “protection of the French against inflation”, close to 5% over one year in April, assured Saturday the number two of the executive Bruno Le Maire in Paris.
“From tomorrow we will therefore get down to (…) the preparation of the bill on purchasing power”, said the Minister of Economy and Finance, reappointed Friday after a first five-year term at Bercy. “I will receive economic players on Monday to study with them how they can also participate in the protection of the French against rising prices”, he added on the occasion of the transfer of power to the Ministry of Public Accounts, a portfolio now held by Gabriel Attal, who succeeds Olivier Dussopt.
Friday evening on TF1, during her first interview after her appointment, Elisabeth Borne had already argued that “the concerns of the French” in terms of purchasing power had “been well heard”. “The first bill examined will relate to purchasing power,” announced the Prime Minister. “We are working on a food check which will be part of this bill, but also on tariff shield measures, and the reduction in fuel prices will be extended. There are also measures that were expected, such as the revaluation of pensions and the tripling of the Macron bonus, ”she listed.
“Control of public accounts”
Bruno Le Maire also cited these levers to improve the purchasing power of the French: “Macron” bonus, wage increases. “Inflation is obviously our first political and economic challenge. Inflation at nearly 5% is always too much, ”regrets the minister, who holds the longevity record at Bercy. “But I remind you that it is almost 8% in Germany, almost 9% in Spain and more than 11% in the Netherlands”, he immediately nuanced.
To counter the soaring prices linked in particular to the war in Ukraine, the previous government has already spent 26 billion.
An amending budget, which must include purchasing power measures (general increase in civil servants, food vouchers, increases in pensions and social minima in particular), will be presented after the legislative elections on June 12 and 19. Despite these new expenditures which are coming, “the control of public accounts is part of the DNA of our majority”, affirmed at the same time Bruno Le Maire.
“The expenses that we incur” for purchasing power “will not prevent us from respecting the commitments of the President of the Republic on the reduction of public debt and the reduction of deficits”. A major challenge since the deficit was still 6.5% of GDP at the end of 2021 and the public debt 112.9%, due to the health crisis linked to Covid-19.
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