
Prime Minister Michel Barnier pledged new taxes and public spending cuts to reduce a "colossal" debt, in a policy address to the French parliament. France's debt reached more than 110 percent of GDP in the second quarter of 2024.
"Our aim is to reduce the deficit to five percent [of GDP] in 2025, on the right path to reach the three-percent ceiling in 2029," meeting the European Union target two years later than previously planned, Barnier said as he laid out his government's policy programme.