The Minister of Public Accounts believes that an absence of a budget would be an “admission of enormous collective helplessness”

The Minister of Action and Public Accounts, Amélie de Montchalin, estimated on Saturday in an interview with Ouest France that “not having a budget would be admitting enormous collective impotence”, while the parliamentary battle over the budget will begin this Monday.

“A country without a budget, immobile and powerless, cannot face new crises,” he adds. Asked about the downgrade of France’s sovereign rating by the S&P agency, which cites a “high” uncertainty about public finances despite the presentation of a budget for 2026, Amélie de Montchalin believes that “it is up to us, in the coming weeks, to agree to take control of our public finances and stop increasing our debt as soon as possible.”

“Dispel false information”

“Next year, we will owe 8 billion more to our creditors to pay the interest on our debt. This is the equivalent of the annual budget of the gendarmerie,” judges the Minister of Public Accounts, for whom “there are essential strategic priorities that require resources, such as our defense, our security, our education or our health.” Regarding the progressive reduction of the tax advantage for biofuels, Amélie de Montchalin acknowledges that “this measure is under debate.”

The government also intends to extend the surcharge on the profits of large companies, but dividing it by two because “this contribution should only last one year,” explains Amélie de Montchalin. “We expanded it because the situation requires it, but asking for half of the first year for the second year,” adds the minister.

Censorship of Barnier’s government

Amélie de Montchalin also assesses that the censorship of the Barnier government cost “counting the negative growth, the savings that we could not make, the disorganization of our public services: at least 12 billion euros.” “But the uncertainty has cost us just as much, if not more,” he adds, “recruitment, investment and real estate projects have been postponed, foreign investors have given up coming to France for not knowing how our rules would evolve… and the French savings rate has skyrocketed.”