Catherine Vautrin warns of the costs of censorship

"Censorship has had a considerable cost, which can be estimated at 12 billion euros. Reducing the deficit will involve savings and work, a rule that the State will apply," she reaffirms in an interview published in the JDD.

In an interview on BFMTV on Friday, Economy Minister Eric Lombard highlighted the same order of magnitude. According to Mr. Lombard, the censorship led to "a drop in growth" of around 0,3 points of GDP "because uncertainty generates a halt in investments, recruitment, and we think that this is in the order of 6 billion euros". He then mentioned "6 billion euros of loss of revenue, of measures that could not be taken" because the State budget could not come into force on January 1st.

In her interview with the JDD, Ms Vautrin also raised the risk of a slippage in the social security deficit in the event of a new censure. The Barnier government had fallen on the vote on the social security financing bill (PLFSS).

"We are in January, without a budget and without a social security financing law. (...) Without a social security financing plan, the threat of a deficit is 30 billion euros for social security," declared Ms Vautrin.

The High Council for the Financing of Social Protection (HCFiPS) calculated in December that without the measures provided for in the Barnier version of the 2025 Social Security financing bill, the deficit would return to around 28-30 billion.

To finance the savings but also new measures, Ms Vautrin mentions savings of "1,2 billion euros" on learning aid or medical transport.

The minister also mentioned a measure, voted in November by the Senate in the PLFSS, to make all workers work without pay for seven more hours each year, to finance the autonomy sector.

The senators "propose working seven hours more per year, or ten minutes more each week. This measure could, in 2025, generate two billion euros in revenue earmarked for social spending," said Ms Vautrin.

Overall, "in the first version of the budget, the State achieved 59% of the savings; we are now at around 65% for the State and its operators", indicated Catherine Vautrin, citing items such as "purchases" or "operating expenses of the agencies".