Amélie de Montchalin promises there will be no fiscal "trickery" to balance the budget

Amélie de Montchalin assures that there will be no fiscal "hacking" to balance the budget, without detailing the possible financing methods but confirming that the text will be adopted either by decree or by recourse to 49.3, in an interview with the newspaper Ouest-France.

"We no longer have a choice. Through their successive votes, the extremes have deliberately made the main budget text incoherent and unvotable. This is a form of sabotage alliance against which we must find a political, cross-party agreement in the interest of the country," she argues.

The Minister for Public Accounts ruled out the introduction of new taxes to finance the measures announced on Friday by Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu, while affirming, like him, that France's public deficit will be reduced to 5% of gross domestic product this year, compared to 5,4% in 2025.

"We will be at 5% in 2026," promises Ms. de Montchalin, who believes that "the effort will be based equally on spending cuts and revenue increases," "without ever" impacting households.

"No new tax schemes, no tinkering, no taxes invented at the last minute. In 2025, the 400 largest companies in France contributed very strongly to the financing of the Nation, this effort will be maintained in 2026," the minister announced, "but now excluding mid-sized companies whose investment the government wants to support."

In search of a compromise on the budget to avoid censorship, Sébastien Lecornu made several gestures on Friday in favor of purchasing power, students and housing, as demanded by the Socialist Party.

The budget allocated to the MaPrimeRénov' scheme will be "maintained at 3,5 billion euros in 2026", says Amélie de Montchalin.

But the funding of all these measures is a question.

Local authorities will be asked to contribute, Ms. de Montchalin points out. "This is currently being discussed with the senators (...) but the order of magnitude will be between 2 and 2,5 billion euros net."

While the debate on the taxation of high fortunes has just been revived by former Economy Minister Eric Lombard, who claims that "thousands" of the richest French people pay no income tax, Ms. de Montchalin indicated that "no wealthy French person pays zero income tax", even if "some pay less than they should".