“Dear friends, I am leaving. As Michel Sardou would say, I love you, but I am leaving.” It was with this musical reference that Bruno Le Maire formalised his departure from the Ministry of the Economy on Thursday, seven years after his arrival. Two months after the defeat of the presidential camp in the legislative elections, he said goodbye during a speech to 1,200 people in the courtyard of the ministry.
Bruno Le Maire, who supported Emmanuel Macron since his victory in 2017, has experienced a political renaissance at Bercy, after his bitter failure in the right-wing primaries. He leaves with the record for longest tenure as Minister of the Economy.
In his farewell speech, Bruno Le Maire wished to thank the ministers who accompanied him during his “seven-year mandate” at Bercy: Delphine Genny-Stephan, Benjamin Griveaux, Marlène Schiappa, Olivia Grégoire, Roland Lescure, Thomas Cazenave, Marina Ferrari, but also Gérald Darmanin and Gabriel Attal.
From “whatever the cost” to the necessary budgetary seriousness
For the past seven years, Bruno Le Maire has tried to set himself up as the embodiment of Bercy’s “liner”, guiding the French economy through crises with massive aid, before having to launch a severely degraded public financial recovery, while promising to continue cutting taxes for businesses and households. He has also made full employment and the reindustrialisation of France priorities, considering them the necessary conditions for sustainable growth.
“Against the tax waltz, we have chosen fiscal stability, against the degradation of the middle classes, we have revalued work, against massive relocations, we have initiated the reindustrialisation of the territories, against French attacks, we have made France the most attractive nation in Europe,” he summed up on Thursday.
After having loosened the purse strings to deal with the Covid pandemic (which he described as the “most intense moment” of his stay at Bercy), Bruno Le Maire tried to convince of French budgetary virtue, calling for an end to “whatever it takes” and to restore public accounts weakened by the crises. To the point that France was singled out by the European Commission for excessive deficit and downgraded by the rating agency S&P.
“France must not back down” on taxes
Indeed, after the post-Covid recovery, growth slowed, the public deficit slid (5.5% in 2023 and potentially 5.6% this year) and debt soared (almost €3.16 billion at the end of March, roughly 111% of GDP). Tens of billions of euros in additional savings had to be announced at the beginning of the year.
“After the crises, we have taken a firm line on public finances. This has not only won us friends. However, wisdom recommends maintaining this line, reducing the size of spending, sharing part of it, “postponing other decisions”. This would automatically lead to an increase in taxes or to plunging France into serious and immediate financial difficulties,” he added.
Denouncing “French hypocrisy: we want less debt and more spending,” Bruno Le Maire also called for “no rollbacks on taxes.” “If we want to wage a fiscal battle, let’s do it at an international level: let’s tax the world’s biggest fortunes at a fair level.”
Return to teaching
After taking stock of his seven-year term at the head of the Ministry of the Economy, Bruno Le Maire outlined his future. He cannot return to public service, having resigned. “This should be the rule for everyone: you enter politics, you leave the high public service,” he said.
Bruno Le Maire said he wanted to “breathe a different air from politics” and expressed his desire to return to teaching.
If he does not specify where he will teach, it could be in Switzerland: in July, the University of Lausanne confirmed “discussions” with the then-resigned minister. But Bruno Le Maire ruled out the possibility of a permanent move: “Naturally, I will continue to live in France, which is my homeland, my life, my passion.”
And if Michel Sardou opened his speech, it was with Aristotle that he concluded: “In every action, good is the end, because it is with this end in view that we do everything else.” “Perhaps it is with this warm end in view, in this courtyard, with you, that we have done together everything that has been done for seven years,” the Minister concluded, excited, before being warmly applauded by the Bercy employees.
Source: BFM TV
