Where next?

[niemeyjt]

What seems to be overlooked - if France is forced to follow the Greek model then all will be much worse off.

[MAD87]

From what I see/hear, France's credit rating has been maintained, but interest repayments continue to rise, equalling some ministry budgets. Time to tighten the belt, but not in the way the govt wants. I can't see the RN or LFI being respoonsible about it though.

[niemeyjt]

What will fix it is if EU appoints a technocrat to run things. No-one to blame as such. Of course when that happens the tightening will be far worse than Barnier is proposing.

The vote of no confidence may be a Pyhrric victory for left and right.

[MAD87]

Maybe, although Beloute has suggested there are other options.
The root of all this can be traced back to Mitterand in 1981.

[Biloute]

Totally agree with you Mad87! I remember very well Mitterrand's election in 1981. At the time, I was the manager of the production of airborne radars at a large industrial company. For 1 week, it was impossible for us to get the workers and technicians back to work: they spent all their time celebrating. Let's not forget that at the time, the socialist, communist and radical parties had allied themselves in the "common program". They all defended the workers, which is no longer the case today: these parties now defend minorities, migrants, beneficiaries of social benefits. Modest workers went to Le Pen.
Just after his election, thanks to the help of the communists and radicals, the socialist Mitterrand got rid of his allies. What happened during the recent legislative elections is very similar. The "common program" of 1980 became Mélenchon's "New Popular Front" and, the day after the legislative elections, the socialists and communists began to separate from Mélenchon.

[glazedallover]

Barnier is toast.

[Biloute]

Barnier bit the dust: his government was censured (331 votes / 577 MPs = 57%)
So now:
- the 2025 budget is rejected and the 2024 one will be used
- Barnier must present the resignation of his government to Macron who must choose a new Prime Minister
- the current ministers remain to take care of current affairs only
Macron said he would appoint the new Prime Minister in 2 days: wait and see...

[niemeyjt]

Watch the markets tomorrow - maybe this will be France's Liz Truss moment - in which case all bets will be off.

Just listening to an NPF Assemble National member - who wants more taxes to spend on public services to fix the issues. Yeah, right.

To tax yourself to prosperity is like standing in a bucket and trying to lift yourself up by the handles.

[MAD87]

Wait and see indeed, but I can't see another PM rallying the support of all parties, so we may soon see this all over again. Back to the 10-minute F rench governments of my youth.

[niemeyjt]

Time for a Sixth Republic maybe - after all the 5th was supposed to fix the 10minute governments of the 4th.