French opposition denounces former economy minister's secret letter to Macron on state finances

By Ilayda Cakirtekin

ISTANBUL (AA) - French opposition parties on Monday denounced a secret letter that former Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire sent to President Emmanuel Macron in April 2024, warning him of rising public spending costs.

Le Maire revealed over the weekend that he had cautioned Macron about the state of the country’s finances in the “secret” letter, unveiled by France 5 and La Tribune Dimanche.

In the letter, he proposed austerity measures to limit the deficit to 4.9% in 2024 and called for an “ambitious strategy" to control public finances to bring the deficit below 3% by 2027.

"Any strategy of avoidance is doomed to failure," Le Maire also wrote.

Speaking to BFMTV, Eric Coquerel, chair of the National Assembly’s Finance Committee and La France Insoumise party deputy, said that disregarding the warning amounts to “a state omission” by Macron.

“Looking back, it means that the budget that was presented was insincere,” the deputy added.

Guillaume Bigot of the National Rally denounced what he described as a “massive state scandal” on the US social media company X.

"Emmanuel Macron knew and had the overspending of public accounts concealed before the elections," he said.

With a soaring public debt standing at 115% of its GDP, France has one of the EU's largest budget deficits at 5.8% of GDP.