Speaker 1: The French finance minister, Antoine Armand says that the government
Speaker 1: won't accept ultimatums from Marine Le penn over a new
Speaker 1: budget law, even as the far right leader gave her
Speaker 1: strongest indications yet that she will topple the administration as
Speaker 1: soon as this week. Of course, her party in parliament
Speaker 1: has the largest number of seats. Altoine Armand has been
Speaker 1: speaking to Bloomberg's Caroline Cunnel in Paris.
Speaker 2: Let us be very clear, Francis is on the right track.
Speaker 2: France's economy has got very solid arguments and it needs
Speaker 2: to be repeated. First of all, as you know, we
Speaker 2: expect a growth of one point one persons in twenteen
Speaker 2: thirty four. It will be above the Eurozone average. Second,
Speaker 2: we have an inflation under the two percent, which is
Speaker 2: now stable. And third of all needs to be said,
Speaker 2: we have an unemployment which is at its lowest in
Speaker 2: forty years in French, in France, so we have a
Speaker 2: strong economy. We have solid arguments, and last but not least,
Speaker 2: we have a clear perspective. Our government, Michelle Barnie's government
Speaker 2: has a clear commitment to reduce the deficit. It will
Speaker 2: be done. It needs to be done.
Speaker 3: It needs to be done, but it's getting very difficult
Speaker 3: this week because obviously your government faces a possible motion
Speaker 3: of no confidence and could collapse as soon as this week.
Speaker 3: Michelle Banie, the Prime Minister, has already made some concessions,
Speaker 3: including on prices of electricity. What other concessions are you
Speaker 3: ready to make? Are you ready to tell us today
Speaker 3: in order for Marine nupen from the national reality to
Speaker 3: abstain from a vote of no confidence.
Speaker 2: You're right to remind that my Prime Minister, Michelle Bannie,
Speaker 2: is a man of dialogue and compromise and this government
Speaker 2: in the last week has clearly demonstrated its willingness to
Speaker 2: ensure that Friends could have a budget through evolution in
Speaker 2: the budget. And let me remind also that the parliamentary
Speaker 2: debate is still ongoing and we have to wait until
Speaker 2: the end of this debate. But as you said, Friends,
Speaker 2: as a critical time, we have the arguments, we have
Speaker 2: the fundamentals, we have a perspective to reduce public spending
Speaker 2: and to cut boring, which is very important for Friends,
Speaker 2: but for Europe as well. So let's say, let's remind
Speaker 2: the political leaders in France that we have a common
Speaker 2: responsibility and that this common responsibility includes voting, adopting passing
Speaker 2: a budget.
Speaker 3: Does that mean there's going to be more compromise, more
Speaker 3: concessions before Monday night, which is the deadline that my
Speaker 3: Inupien has given you.
Speaker 2: As I said, the French government doesn't take multim atoms.
Speaker 2: It's looking at the French parliamentary debate. It's respecting every
Speaker 2: each and every parliamentary debate that leads to an evolution.
Speaker 2: We will take into account what is changing, but we
Speaker 2: won't be blackmailed. We are committed to reduce the deficit.
Speaker 3: I understand you're willing to perhaps compromise, but mine open
Speaker 3: has some speed. The seafly concessions she wants from the government,
Speaker 3: including that all pensions be indexed on infation as soon
Speaker 3: as January, and she also wants the government to give
Speaker 3: up this plan to abandon some drug reinforcement on these
Speaker 3: two specific topics. Is there any way to have more
Speaker 3: concessions from the government.
Speaker 2: Let's just not just focus on the for assemble mon
Speaker 2: nacional because as you know, but it's key, it's key,
Speaker 2: but it's not enough. And as you say, for a
Speaker 2: vote of confidence to be adopted at the French parliament,
Speaker 2: you would need to have the Socialist Party, the left
Speaker 2: parties to vote with the far right parties. So it
Speaker 2: would not only be the responsibility of Marine Lupezz party,
Speaker 2: it would also be the responsibility of French socialists, French ecologists,
Speaker 2: people who are willing to oppose to Marine Lupin to
Speaker 2: vote together. It would be a very bad signal politically
Speaker 2: an economically for these countries, for our country, and for
Speaker 2: these parties who are saying and claiming that they could
Speaker 2: say government parties.
Speaker 3: Does that mean you're trying to negotiate with the Socialist Party,
Speaker 3: not the National Valuy.
Speaker 2: We are not focused on with whom we negotiate or not.
Speaker 2: As I said, the government is a government of dialogue,
Speaker 2: of respect of co construction. This budget, this budget has
Speaker 2: been co constructed. It's not the result of just a
Speaker 2: government project. It's evolving within the days and the weeks
Speaker 2: of the parliamentary debate will still be open. But not
Speaker 2: to blackmail.
Speaker 3: You're not open to blackmail. But the thing that my
Speaker 3: independent wants really is for the government to respect That's
Speaker 3: what she says, to respect the electorate of the National Valuy.
Speaker 3: Are you willing to say that the concessions you've already made,
Speaker 3: for example, are thanks to the National valuy and that
Speaker 3: you respect her electorate.
Speaker 2: We respect every each and every MP, and we respect
Speaker 2: each and every people in France, whatever they decided to
Speaker 2: vote or not to vote, of course, but what's my
Speaker 2: responsibility as a finance minister is to commit to the
Speaker 2: five percent target that we decided to have at the
Speaker 2: beginning of our mandates, not only for friends or for
Speaker 2: the government, because it's now needed in order that Europe
Speaker 2: still remain a country, a continent of prosperity. That's what
Speaker 2: we aim at, and for that we need all political
Speaker 2: leader to be responsible.
Speaker 3: With these concessions that we've seen in the budget, they're
Speaker 3: going to cost about ten billion euros.
Speaker 2: Does that mean you can.
Speaker 3: Actually keep this five percent deficit target or do you
Speaker 3: believe perhaps it will be slightly higher, like five point
Speaker 3: five or perhaps higher.
Speaker 2: As I told you, our commitment to reduce the budget
Speaker 2: deficit towards five percent in twenty twenty five and towards
Speaker 2: three percent in twenty twenty nine is not an option.
Speaker 2: It is something something we are very carefully looking at.
Speaker 2: What does that mean you can actually it means that yes,
Speaker 2: it means that at every time that we made adjustments
Speaker 2: on our budget, we compensated it with saving with new measures.
Speaker 2: It's clearly an important point to underline here. We all
Speaker 2: committed to this five percent target in twenty twenty five
Speaker 1: So that was Fances Finance Minister Antoine Armor speaking to
Speaker 1: our own Caroline Connot in Paris