“The French debt is very high and its dynamics are worrying.” Inside the parisian this Tuesday, Pierre Moscovici once again sounded the alarm on the situation of public finances. “We are one of the countries in the euro zone where the debt derives the most. This is not the type of leadership I dream of for my country!”, worries the president of the Court of Accounts.
Asked about the 2 billion tax cuts announced by Emmanuel Macron, Pierre Moscovici assures that “limiting the tax burden to the middle classes cannot shock him.” “But, given the state of our public finances, any tax cut must be financed,” he warns.
“We are the champions of public spending”
If “the quality of France’s signature is good” and that “the financial markets trust us”, the president of the Higher Council for Public Finance believes that France must show its “willingness to seriously reduce its debt and its deficit in the duration and for that to control their expenses”. “We are the champions of public spending. But on the contrary, is the quality of public service there?” He asks.
He assures that he does not advocate “for austerity or for planning everywhere.” “But where this does not work, public policies must be reformed, so that they are more effective, fairer and less expensive.”
“Not everything can be based on public spending”
The president of the Court of Accounts also describes as “optimistic” the forecasts of the Government in terms of growth, inflation, payroll or foreign trade. “It is not out of reach, but having an alignment of the planets seems to me a bold approach,” he judges, before asking for “a public finance programming law (…) ambitious in terms of debt reduction objectives and realistic about the means to achieve them.
Because “not everything can be based on public spending”, insists Pierre Moscovici. And remember that the Court of Accounts recommends the establishment of “more punctual and temporary aid” in the face of inflation. “We are no longer in the ‘whatever it costs’ but in the ‘it is very expensive’. You have to turn the page on the checkbook policy, ”he adds.
Source: BFM TV
