The Latest Breaking News from Bruno Le Maire

A new novel by French President Emmanuel Macron's Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire – containing one breathlessly erotic passage that has gone viral – has forced the government to explain how he finds the time for such a project in a period of economic trouble for so many.

France's economy grew 0.2 percent in the first quarter on the back of greater industrial production and increased foreign trade, the national statistics agency INSEE announced on Friday. Germany narrowly avoided recession, reporting flat GDP in the first three months of 2023.

President Joe Biden has assured US taxpayers that they will not have to pay for losses in the banking sector, after French and German authorities said that recent collapse of several US banks pose no danger to European financial institutions.

The bankruptcies of US banks Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and Signature do not pose a danger to French financial institutions, Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said Monday as authorities in the US and UK took extraordinary steps to stop a potential banking crisis.

On Monday, the Finance and Economy Minister, Bruno Le Maire, launched a three-month anti-inflation drive, in cooperation with most major French supermarket chains. Under the plan, which will cost the companies "several hundred million euros", a selection of products will be made available at the lowest price possible.

The anniversary of the start of the war in Ukraine is looming over meetings of world financial leaders at the Group of 20 leading economies in India. France said on Friday it will not sign a final statement that does not condemn the war “in the strongest terms”.

France will not sign off on a G20 communique unless it contains the same denunciation of Russia's invasion of Ukraine as it did last year, its finance minister said on Friday on the sidelines of a G20 meeting in India.

The French and German economy ministers, Bruno Le Maire and Robert Habeck, kick off high-stakes talks with US officials Tuesday to underscore European concerns over President Joe Biden's ambitious climate action plan.

German Economy Minister Robert Habeck on Monday said there was a chance that de facto free-trade status could be reached between Europe and the United States in the area of critical minerals under the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).