The level of public debt and its costs for the State budget have been used in France as a scarecrow by politicians for about ten years. These threats were held up when tax increases or expenditures reductions had to be voted. Everything has changed these last days. As a miracle, Bercy has admitted that the cost of the debt was going to fall. It will allow financing the new expenditures or the receipts reductions generated by the measures announced by the President of the Republic in December right in the middle of the “gilets jaunes” crisis. They had been evaluated ...

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French people have a very particular relationship with taxes. They always think they pay too much ones and especially that their neighbor doesn’t pay enough ones. In the same time, they ask for better public services and a large and fair social protection. When they are shown that their country has a level of compulsory levies among the highest in the world, that doesn’t dissuade them to ask for more, to the condition it is “the neighbor” who pays. And when, in presence of the accumulation of deficits and the public debt increase, it is suggested to reduce ...

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The publication of the first estimations of French economic growth during the 2018 4^th quarter (+0.3%) and the whole year (+1.5%), after 2.3% in 2017, has offered the possibility of several interpretations. From government point of view, it is thought that this result is reassuring. International environment has been less favorable and shows important instability risks. The social crisis the country is going through since November has also weight on activity. The current economic policy is the right one and starts to produce its returns. The version of events is different inside the opposition. Purchasing power ...

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