France's economy warning

CGTN Europe

France’s National Public Audit Office has issued a stark warning to the government - get the debt down.   The office highlighted that France’s public deficit rose by over $30 billion from 2022 - 2023. The figure now stands at $168 billion.   It leaves France’s economy ‘dangerously exposed’, according to the Cour des Comptes.  Ross Cullen takes a look.

Transcript

00:00dangerously exposed to any possible macroeconomic shock.

00:04That were the words from the National Audit Office,

00:07a warning to the French lawmakers and the government at the moment

00:11to try to ensure that the future direction of the country

00:14takes into account fiscal stability and financial responsibility.

00:19We know that the public deficit in France has been rising.

00:22Structural reforms have been delayed.

00:25There's been no room for manoeuvre in terms of servicing

00:28France's high public debt and also with its deficit in excess of EU limits.

00:34Emmanuel Macron has said that France will try to make sure

00:37that its debt is within EU limits, that deficit within EU limits by 2027.

00:44But at the moment to try to make any political promises

00:47in the state of political deadlock that we're in is very challenging.

00:51And Ross, how does the political stalemate complicate the situation?

00:57Well, there's a hung parliament.

01:02There's no one party with a majority.

01:05The government is just a holding government at the moment

01:08because it's based on the results of the election in 2022,

01:11which also produced no clear majority.

01:14There is a cabinet meeting on Tuesday morning local time here

01:19being chaired by Emmanuel Macron.

01:21And we could well see a resolution come out of that.

01:24There's a great likelihood that some people believe.

01:27Could we see a new prime minister?

01:29Gabriel Attal resigns the day after the election on the 8th of July.

01:34The current prime minister, Emmanuel Macron, refused to accept that resignation.

01:38And so he has been in place for stability,

01:40but he could well be removed, replaced on Tuesday.

01:43So it'll be worth checking in then to see the state of play

01:46regarding the political machinations at the moment, the discussions on the left.

01:50They want the next prime minister to come from the left.

01:52They don't agree. It's four parties under one umbrella.

01:54They've all got their own candidates they would like to see a prime minister.

01:57So they haven't agreed, despite the fact they're the biggest party

02:00in the new parliament as a whole, all four of them.

02:03The biggest bloc is coming from the left.

02:05They can't decide on who should be prime minister,

02:07but we could well see that power sharing agreement

02:10between Emmanuel Macron, the centrist president,

02:12and a new prime minister who's not centrist,

02:15if after this cabinet meeting on Tuesday, there is a resolution.

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