Michel Barnier’s government in name only

A trillion here and a trillion there and pretty soon you’re talking about real money.  Of course, France now owes even more than that. To be precise, a colossal €3,228,000,000,000. Up by one trillion euros since the election in 2017 of President Emmanuel Macron, the ‘Mozart of finance’.

A ‘sword of Damocles’, admitted the new French prime minister Michel Barnier on Tuesday in his speech to the National Assembly setting out the programme of his minority government. A government in name only, it can be said, since it depends on its survival on the consent of Marine Le Pen.  

As the left opposition hissed and Le Pen beamed like one of her Bengal cats, a breed noted for its aggression, Barnier delivered his message in calm and measured tones, fooling nobody.  If anyone has any money, it’s time to start looking at the Swiss property websites.  

This year, the public deficit will exceed 6 per cent of GDP, Barnier admitted, promising to reduce it to 5 per cent in 2025 and 3 per cent in 2029.

The ‘first remedy’ is a massive reduction in spending, which will account for two-thirds of the effort expected in 2025. For this, it will be necessary to ‘renounce magic money’ and ‘make choices’. Well, that would be unprecedented in a nation accustomed to binging and never worrying about the bill.

Next, Barnier intends to improve the efficiency of public spending, by putting an end to ‘duplications, inefficiencies’, as well as fraud, abuses or unjustified pensions. President Macron promised that seven years ago, including a cut in the bloated bureaucracy.  The functionariat has subsequently grown.

Finally, the state will ask for an additional tax effort, ‘targeted, limited in time and shared’, from certain actors. Large and very large companies ‘which make significant profits’ will thus be involved, ‘without calling into question the competitiveness’ of France. The bankers in Geneva will be drooling.

Barnier seems like a decent enough chap and the French wish him well, but bromides don’t pay bills.

On law and order, Barnier said what voters wanted to hear, and what Le Pen has demanded. More prisons. Stricter immigration. Expulsions of convicted criminals. We’ve heard all this repeatedly.

Barnier acknowledged that the government is, like many modest French people, ‘walking a fine line’. He urged deputies to ‘allow the country to find the path of compromise, brotherhood and hope.’ Good luck with that. None of these qualities has ever been evident in French history.