Something unprecedented in France and the Eurozone. A new alarm bell on financial markets: French debt has reached €3,228 billion, an increase of €69 billion in just three months! Every quarter, this country accumulates tens of billions in debt. In the second quarter of this year, the 3,200 billion mark was surpassed. This is more than just a symbol; it is a concrete acknowledgment of the nation's loss of sovereignty.
France's indebtedness has never been this high: 83% of this financial catastrophe is due to government spending! The debt now represents 112% of the annual GDP. Let us remember that the Maastricht convergence criteria only allow a ratio of 60%! This is almost double! Not to mention the public deficit, which will exceed 6%, while Maastricht ratios require it not to go above 3%! Never has France faced such a financial catastrophe since 1945 and the end of World War II.
In terms of debt in the EU, only Greece and Italy are worse off. Humiliating and highly concerning. Today, in financial markets, Greece can borrow at a lower cost over five years than France! The credibility of French credit is visibly eroding. The European Commission, still lenient, has granted the Barnier government an additional month to present its budget, as it continues to pursue Paris for "excessive deficit." Time is running out, and Germany, currently in recession, is increasingly worried about the stability of the Eurozone.
How can France convince Brussels, after so long explaining and swearing it will improve its public finances? Does the European Commission still believe in this? Or is it pretending to, to avoid throwing the Eurozone’s second-largest economy to the wolves? Doing so would have disastrous effects on the very existence of the Euro.
With Germany facing economic difficulties and France mired in a political and financial crisis, the whole of Europe is stuck.
A wave of panic is blowing through Paris. Ministers are being asked, without delay, to find cost-saving measures to prevent France from crashing headlong into the budgetary wall it’s racing toward, honking all the way.
If the financial situation weren't so dire, one might almost laugh at Bruno Le Maire's recent statement before leaving Bercy, when he explained that "if our debt level is high today, it's because I saved the French economy." In a tragicomic echo, Antoine Armand, the new finance minister, indirectly added, "I appreciate the opportunity to inherit such a legacy." Out of touch.