By Mathieu Rosemain
PARIS (Reuters) -French Prime Minister Michel Barnier mentioned on Sunday that he wouldn’t increase taxes on most French taxpayers, though the wealthiest must assist shut a gap within the funds.
President Emmanuel Macron’s workplace this weekend unveiled a brand new authorities that goals to strike a high-quality steadiness between right-wingers and centrists and which he hopes will break the political impasse that adopted a summer time snap election.
Its most speedy and daunting activity will probably be to place collectively a funds for 2025 at a time France is struggling to comprise a spiralling funds deficit.
“I’m not going to further increase taxes on all French people, neither on the most modest, nor on people who work, nor on the middle classes. But I cannot exclude the wealthiest from the national effort to rectify the situation,” Barnier instructed France 2 tv.
Barnier, who was the European Union’s lead negotiator throughout Britain’s Brexit negotiations, additionally mentioned he was additionally open to modifications to Macron’s pension reform however that any modifications mustn’t undermine the pension system’s funds.
He mentioned by the use of instance that he needed to higher have in mind the hardships confronted by working moms over the course of lengthy careers and that he was open to the enter of employers and unions.
Barnier additionally pledged pragmatic measures to restrict immigration.
“We need a European response. We need to take action at home too,” Barnier mentioned. “We need to deal with the immigration issue much more rigorously.”
