The U2P employers' organization regrets the mayors' boycott of the Bayrou conference

The AMF announced that it would not participate in this budget conference, which brings together ministers, parliamentarians, social security organizations, employers and local authorities, describing it as a "communications session."

"These are political posturings," Mr. Picon responded on France Info, and "political posturing has led us into the (financial, editor's note) situation we are in today." For him, "exonerating ourselves from participating in a collective assessment and drawing conclusions together (is) not a good thing."

There was no false note, however, from the employers' organizations U2P, Medef, and Cpme, which participated alongside the large business lobby, Afep, in a "Business Council" on Monday, led by the Minister of Economy Eric Lombard and the Minister of SMEs Véronique Louwagie, focusing on customs duties and the 2026 budget, unanimously welcoming the initiative.

Forty billion euros more must be saved in 2026 to bring the public deficit below 5% of GDP, to be distributed among the State, Social Security and local authorities.

Mr. Picon called for "proceeding with great caution" with regard to businesses, especially since, he stressed, "local authorities will be asked to reduce their scale," with risks for public procurement.

According to La Tribune, "8 billion euros of efforts" will be required from the latter.

"They are aware of the difficulty we are in, which is why we want to share information so that everyone's contribution is accepted because it is in the national interest," Mr. Lombard told the press on Monday.

Mr. Picon also expressed the hope that "support for apprenticeships would no longer be touched" in the next budget, and that "the issue of financing social protection would be addressed."

On the subject of customs duties, he called for "measured" action against Google, Amazon and Microsoft, which are widely used by French companies, if there are European retaliations. He also stressed that some hoteliers "depend on an (American) company called Booking.com for more than 30% of their turnover."