French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu has proposed a plan to save about 54 billion euros (about 62.1 billion dollars) in the 2027 budget by restraining spending and keeping taxes stable, with the aim of reducing the general deficit to about 5% of gross domestic product.
Freezing the state budget
The plan is based on a series of spending-cutting and spending-freezing measures, led by keeping the state budget unchanged in nominal terms, as the government seeks to curb spending growth and reprioritize its outlays.
The measures include freezing the index point used to calculate public-sector employees' pay. Lecornu said the state must lead by example in efforts to reduce spending.
Exempting defense and priority sectors
The plan exempts some priority spending from the freezes, led by defense, with increased allocations for the armed forces, along with targeted increases for the justice, interior, research and environment sectors.
The government aims to reduce the deficit to 4.8% of gross domestic product before new military spending is counted, and to about 5% after it is included, relying on spending restraint rather than imposing new tax increases.
