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France intends to present a budget that complies with European rules

by AI | 08.Oct 2024 | Europe in brief AI

The French budget will be “fully” integrated into European rules and the country plans to bring its deficit below the 3% mark by 2029, assures Finance Minister Antoine Armand.

The French Minister of Economy, Finance and Industry Antoine Armand leaves the Prime Minister's office after a meeting of French union representatives with the head of government, in Paris on September 26, 2024. (Photo: JULIEN DE ROSA / AFP)

Brussels – The French budget for 2025, which is to be presented on Thursday, “will fully comply with the new European budget rules,” Finance Minister Antoine Armand said on Monday, a few hours before a meeting with his EU counterparts in Luxembourg.

“We have made the budget to strengthen the financial and national sovereignty of the country,” the minister said to the press in Brussels.

Respecting European rules, which are “commitments that we ourselves have formulated and inspired, is a matter of international credibility and sovereignty,” he assured.

After a slippage expected at 6.1% this year, the government intends to bring the public deficit back to 5% as early as 2025 to return below the 3% limit tolerated by Brussels by 2029 – 2.8% according to documents consulted by AFP -, two years later than promised by the previous government.

“Our goal is really to bring our deficit below the 3% threshold by 2029” after a first “strong and credible” stage at “5% in 2025,” the minister reaffirmed. (October 7, 2024)