Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, radio news. Emmanuel Macron's gift to
Speaker 1: choose who he wants to lead his next government, and
Speaker 1: the question is what will that mean for the country's
Speaker 1: economy and for the prospects of passing a budget. Let's
Speaker 1: discuss now with Fabrius Lesachet, who's the vice president of
Speaker 1: France's biggest business lobby, MEDEF. Fabri's good to talk to
Speaker 1: you again on Bloomberg Radio. Thanks for joining us this morning.
Speaker 1: I mean, how passive, mister, are you about the future now?
Speaker 1: Given that we've gone through another prime minister. We're heading
Speaker 1: for number seven under Emmanuel Macron. Do you think that
Speaker 1: he can find anyone who can do better?
Speaker 2: I don't know about this. You know, for us, the
Speaker 2: identity of the prime minister is not the main The
Speaker 2: important part is are we able to find compromise, political
Speaker 2: compromise to support for business policy and to carry on
Speaker 2: the reforms that are much needed and change the cure
Speaker 2: of the debt which is now skyrocketing, putting in danger
Speaker 2: the country because the interest rate go up and also
Speaker 2: the cost of paying all these refinancing. All this and
Speaker 2: at some point we will pay one hundred billion in
Speaker 2: one or two years. The forecast that wonticipit is that
Speaker 2: will pay one hundred billion euro year or just for
Speaker 2: the debt interest. This is not lasting, this is not sustainable.
Speaker 2: We need money for something else, for investments. We need
Speaker 2: also to drop down the tax. We need to revise
Speaker 2: very seriously the social spending. We know that two thirds
Speaker 2: of the debt comes from pension and comes from social spending,
Speaker 2: and we know what we need to do. So that's
Speaker 2: the main point.
Speaker 1: For preseos with the masters. Of course that we heard
Speaker 1: loud and clear from the last two prime ministers. They
Speaker 1: didn't have any success in addressing any of those issues.
Speaker 1: Do you think that the socialist prime minister could make
Speaker 1: things better or worse for business?
Speaker 2: Not at all when you read if it's based on
Speaker 2: the socialist program, it will be a catastrophe because they
Speaker 2: want to do like in the UK and even worse
Speaker 2: tax on capital game, which will be an open door
Speaker 2: to escape the countries for pats of wealth, for hoppreneurs,
Speaker 2: for business people, and this is not what we want.
Speaker 2: We want to welcome entrepreneurs in this country because if
Speaker 2: we need to repay the debt, we can only do
Speaker 2: it with growth, with added value with revenues, with profits,
Speaker 2: and not by getting the countries more poor. So no,
Speaker 2: it will be a catastrophe. But the Socialist cannot rule
Speaker 2: the country without a compromise with the other political parties,
Speaker 2: so we will need to see. But of course it
Speaker 2: will be a bad signal, that's for sure.
Speaker 1: Fabrius, what's the danger in the interim period when we're
Speaker 1: in another uncertain period for French pol Arguably nothing's really
Speaker 1: been achieved in the past two years. What does that
Speaker 1: mean for your members? What does that mean for business
Speaker 1: in France? Now?
Speaker 2: In fact they have achieved. One thing is unstability, which
Speaker 2: is not good for business because when you cannot obviously
Speaker 2: plan and expect something a bit stable, you don't invest.
Speaker 2: And when you see the growth in France which was
Speaker 2: zero point three percent in the second quarter, a bit
Speaker 2: more than the expectation, but still low, it does not
Speaker 2: rely at all on private investment or consumption. The savings
Speaker 2: are skyrocketing, the investment is very low. That showed no
Speaker 2: confidence from consumers and corporations, and the growth is only
Speaker 2: based on a technical storage stock. So this is not
Speaker 2: a good sign and the outlook is not very positive.
Speaker 2: If you add on that the tariffs from the US
Speaker 2: and the work capacity from China, the stakes are very high.
Speaker 1: Okay, fabrus asashe vice president of French business OP Group,
Speaker 1: madef thank you very much for joining us.