PARIS (Reuters) -French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou said on Tuesday he will unveil proposals in early July to get public finances under control, adding that “everyone will have to make an effort”.
“In early July, I will propose to the French people a plan to return public finances to equilibrium over 3 or 4 years,” Bayrou told BFM TV without providing further details.
“We have allowed deficits to pile up, we have allowed a mountain of debt to accumulate. The country is over-indebted,” he added.
Bayrou also reiterated he was in favour of proposing a referendum on the country’s budget but that the decision was in the hands of President Emmanuel Macron.
Centrist Bayrou’s minority government is trying to come up with 40 billion euros in budget savings to cut its fiscal deficit to 4.6% of economic output next year, but many of the measures floated so far have found little political support.
The French government is struggling to get its public finances back under control after spending spiralled higher last year and tax income fell short of expectations as a snap legislative election delivered a deeply divided parliament.
(Reporting by Dominique Vidalon, Editing by William Maclean)
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