In an interview with Le Parisien, Amélie de Montchalin, France's Minister for Public Accounts, urged political parties to demonstrate goodwill in adopting the future budget.
Montchalin's ambition is to finalize the 2025 budget before March, promising a budget that differs from the one rejected by the National Assembly. She stated, "a dozen billion euros in savings" will be removed from the budget. Montchalin aims for a deficit at the end of 2025 that does not exceed significantly 5% and 3% by 2029.
To avoid prolonging the special law that currently restricts certain hiring and the opening of nursing home positions, the government will not start from scratch; key elements of the Barnier project will be retained. These include maintaining taxes on stock buybacks, airplane tickets, and an additional contribution from large companies.
Michel Barnier previously described this contribution as "an exceptional temporary effort required from the largest companies earning over 1 billion euros in revenue," affecting about 300 companies. If adopted, this measure will take the form of surcharges on corporate tax.
Households can be reassured, as there will be no new taxes or increases that would harm their purchasing power. Montchalin noted, "France is the country that collects the most in Europe," and expressed her intention to actively combat tax optimization and fraud. When questioned about the legality of tax optimization, she responded, "Legislation needs to be amended as it is sometimes abusively circumvented by certain taxpayers."
On Monday, Montchalin will meet with Éric Lombard, Minister of Economy, and various political forces at Bercy, stating, "Let’s be clear: this budget will be neither right-wing, nor left-wing, nor centrist. It will not be the ideal budget of any party, but that of the country."