![]() The message from the president's office during this period was intended to be positive and energizing. Why on earth did the French president not sound the alarm during the presidential campaign, or even afterward, when he gave his prime minister three months to consult with the unions before setting the reform in motion? ![]() The next important date is June 2, when another rating agency, Standard & Poor's, will make its decision on French debt, which it currently rates AA with a negative outlook. In the short term, this downgrade has had no impact on the level of rates, but since the pandemic and the "whatever it takes" policy, the country has suddenly rediscovered its fragility. This is what we saw on Friday, April 28, when Fitch Ratings downgraded the sovereign rating of French debt from AA to AA- with a stable outlook. But when the trend started to reverse in 2021, with interest rates rising and the debt burden increasing, the political class had less to sing and dance about. The 2010s was the blessed era of free money, marked by very low interest rates – sometimes zero. France is dragging with it the ball and chain of its public debt: nearly €3 trillion accumulated over the past 50 years, or 111.6% of gross domestic product (GDP) at the end of 2022.Īs long as they could pay it back by taking out new debts at a lower cost, France came out carefree and on top. With other issues in France having taken the back burner during the protests against Emmanuel Macron's highly-contested pension reform from January to April, the country is beginning to take a look at the other unspoken issues it faces. The French political world acts as if the €3 trillion national debt did not exist, writes Le Monde columnist Françoise Fressoz. France: 'The debt burden issue was buried, and it feels almost impossible to bring it back into public debate' Column
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