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00:00Dear Members of Parliament, before beginning this General Policy Declaration, I would first
00:13like to tell you about the emotion that I felt, and I'm sure every one of you felt this
00:20emotion as well, when we all took part in this minute of silence in the memory of Philippines.
00:30We all are thinking of her and her family, and we are all thinking about all the women
00:37who are victims of gender-based violence.
00:40Madam Speaker, MPs, I am taking the floor in front of you for the first time as Prime
00:50Minister, and I am aware of the seriousness and the gravity, the importance of this moment
00:58for our common action at the service of our country and our fellow citizens who are watching
01:04us and listening to us right now.
01:08At this instance, I have in my mind the order given by General de Gaulle to the people in
01:18May 1942, a message that he gave one of his aides-de-camp from London to a certain Pierre
01:25de Chevigny, who he had sent to the United States to create a unit of free France.
01:37And he wrote to him, I'm going to ask you to do a lot with very little, and starting
01:43with almost nothing.
01:48Decades later, at a juncture that was luckily less dramatic, this need to do a lot with
02:00very little is now the daily life of many of our fellow citizens, policemen and women,
02:10gendarmes, firefighters, soldiers who ensure our collective security, all in conditions
02:19that are constantly more difficult.
02:28Our nurses, our doctors have less and less time to heal, to help more and more people.
02:36Our teachers, our trainers who also are under stress to teach citizenship to our children.
02:46People with disabilities, people who are fighting to have access and who are fighting against
02:52discrimination.
02:53I'm thinking of the volunteers who devote their time and energy for others.
02:57I'm thinking about the parents who have difficulty in having ends meet and making ends meet.
03:07And I'm also thinking of the children from poor families who, thanks to the education
03:12of our republican schools, manage to follow their desired career paths.
03:24The elected representatives, we are collectively at a critical moment.
03:33We need to do a lot.
03:36And if we can't do everything, we need to do well in order to meet the expectations
03:40of our fellow citizens.
03:42And we need to do this with few resources, in a situation where we have limited resources.
03:53But inversely to de Gaulle's words, we are not starting from scratch or starting from nothing.
04:07Our starting point with our government is based on a popular vote that elected you all,
04:16my dear colleagues, elected representatives, which show that we are at a difficult moment.
04:23We need more efficient social services, securities in our everyday life.
04:29But we also need to find a path to fraternity, peace and hope.
04:36We are starting from a position of strength.
04:40France is strong.
04:41We have a capacity of innovation of those who work, who produce, who are entrepreneurs,
04:45here in France, in mainland France and abroad and in our overseas territories.
04:53These last years, and I believe this objectively and personally, that we have progressed in
04:58recent years under the impulse of the head of state and his different governments.
05:05We are also starting with a France that is rich in history, rich in heritage, rich in
05:11its biodiversity and landscapes on earth and in the sea.
05:16We are starting with France that was able to unite itself in order to encourage our
05:21Olympic and Paralympic athletes.
05:24People sang the Marseillaise proudly and at the end of the day, we surprised the world.
05:32I think these assets, ladies and gentlemen, these assets are things that I have in mind
05:38now after being named Prime Minister by the President of the Republic 26 days ago today.
05:44I am here to present to you our roadmap, the roadmap of our new government, which is
05:51based on one or double requirement, firstly a method which is my own and we will also
06:01have five main working projects.
06:03First of all, when it comes to the expectations, we need to reduce our double budget and environmental
06:10debt.
06:13Our fellow citizens expect us to look truth in the eyes and they expect the Prime Minister
06:20and the members of government to tell the truth.
06:24And as I committed to this, I will say the truth on the truth of our public accounts
06:31and on the reality of the impact of our lifestyle, our economy on the environment.
06:36I heard people speak about a democracy's sword that would be dangling over the head
06:44of the government, but the true democracy's sword is actually dangling over the heads
06:49of the French men and women today.
06:54We need action and courage and I'm sure that this sword will weigh over us even more heavily
07:06in the future on our children and grandchildren if we do not act today.
07:11Three trillion 228 billion euros in public debt and this figure might push our country
07:22over the edge of a precipice.
07:28Our public debt might be above 6% of our GDP by the end of this year.
07:36And if we don't do anything, it will even be greater in 2025.
07:39Why is this a serious problem here, elected representatives?
07:43Not only because these figures have nothing to do with the projections that were made
07:47at the beginning of the year.
07:49Not only because they have nothing to do by the pathways that were promised by our partners.
07:53Not only because this situation is reverberated by the situation in Europe, but also because
07:59the burden of this debt, 51 billion euros, is now the second expense of our state after
08:08education.
08:09Is it acceptable that we should spend more to pay interest to others than we pay for
08:16our defense or research?
08:18The answer today is no.
08:24When it comes to our challenges, which are huge, we have no other choice.
08:28Our responsibility is to reduce this burden and find a greater budgetary wiggle room.
08:38So my first commitment is to bring the deficit down to 5% in 2025.
08:48Our goal is to put our country on the right trajectory in order to get under the ceiling
08:55of 3% by 2029, which is in line with our European commitments.
09:01How can we do this?
09:03We are not fibbing here, and I am not going to tell you lies.
09:09Our public spending represents 57% of our GDP, whereas in Europe the average is 49%.
09:16They have gone up to over 3 trillion euros since 2019.
09:23This represents 5,000 euros in public spending on top of every French person every year,
09:32regardless of their age.
09:36The first remedy to fight this debt is reducing spending.
09:51In 2025, two-thirds of the effort to reduce our debt will come from reducing our spending.
10:03Reducing government spending is to turn our back on the idea that everything is free or
10:10everything is subsidised.
10:12We need to make choices, responsible ones.
10:15I'm using this word responsible in a very grave way.
10:23We need to improve people's lives in the long term.
10:27We will have to take particular care to protect the most fragile people so that they are protected
10:35by health measures, the public education system, and social security.
10:39So we will be working with local governments in order to make the right choices.
10:48So we will reduce spending.
10:50The second remedy is to be more efficient in our government spending.
10:56We are champions of government spending, but what is the result of this spending?
10:59Is it normal that the cost of educating a French student be superior to that of educating our neighbours,
11:05whereas our teachers are often less well-paid?
11:08Is it acceptable that state services rent out spaces in the middle of Paris,
11:18whereas they...
11:19or actually rent places in central Paris, whereas they could move to nearby areas which are cheaper,
11:26and this would improve the situation on the ground in these other places,
11:31which we saw with the Olympics in the Saint-Saint-Denis department.
11:40We will be looking out for abuses of the system, for corruption, and to unjustified expenses.
11:53So we need to reduce public spending.
11:54It needs to be more efficient.
11:55The third remedy is a tax remedy.
11:59Our taxes are among the highest in the world.
12:04The tax reductions that were taken in the last seven years and the measures taken during the Covid crisis
12:10helped many French people, this is very true, and many companies as well,
12:14and it also gave them oxygen to breathe in a situation that was unprecedented and difficult.
12:21But the situation of our public accounts today requires a targeted effort that will be limited in time,
12:27a shared effort in order to obtain a tax justice.
12:34Sharing these efforts will push us to ask for greater participation by the largest companies who will have to do their part.
12:48We will not make our competitiveness suffer.
12:53We can't redistribute our wealth if there isn't production and economic activity in our country.
13:02We will also ask an exceptional contribution of the richest and the wealthiest French people
13:09in order to avoid a situation where the largest taxpayers would be untaxed.
13:20And we will also fight against tax fraud and social fraud.
13:28So we will also secure our national health cards to combat the undeserved social benefits.
13:42On these budgetary issues, there will be very important choices to be made.
13:48They will be made with you when we will discuss the budget.
13:54The draft finance law, which has been prepared with a great sense of urgency,
14:01the Prime Minister has never had to present a budget in so little time.
14:06This draft law takes into account this need for straightening our budget, our accounts rather,
14:14and so I would like the Parliament to be able to debate this point and improve the budget if necessary.
14:23We need a good budgetary policy and that is something that needs to be farsighted.
14:30And so I would like Ministers and Members of Parliament to work productively
14:36and I'd like everyone to take their responsibilities, especially the Directors of Central Administrations.
14:42My fellow, my dear MPs, there is another democracy's sword that is just as dangerous that is dangling over us
14:50and that is that of the environmental debt.
15:01We do not inherit the land of our ancestors and we leave it to our children.
15:10This is something that I have always remembered since the beginning of my political career
15:15as when I worked under the French Ministry of the Environment in my region of Savoie.
15:22I worked in the Ministry, in the Senate, in the Ministry of Environment,
15:26in the Ministry of Fisheries and at the European Commission
15:29and I've always defended the environment and it will be at the heart of our political actions
15:35because I remember the recommendation of a Head of State, or a statesman rather,
15:39a statesman whom I respected, Pierre Mendès-France,
15:44who recommended that we should never sacrifice the future in the name of the present,
15:49never sacrifice the future in the name of the present.
15:54Some say, what's the use?
15:58What can France do when faced with a problem that the entire world is faced with?
16:03Well, I think that we can do a lot.
16:06Our greenhouse gas emissions went down by 3.6% during the first half of 2024.
16:14This shows that our efforts have paid off.
16:20We can and we will do more to fight climate change
16:25and to prevent all the risks that are much more frequent and violent.
16:31We need to preserve our biodiversity, we need to encourage the circular economy,
16:37we need to act more concretely within the EU and under the Paris Agreements
16:41and we need to encourage the different initiatives by our local authorities,
16:48by our different companies and individuals around the country.
16:53Our environmental policy has to be an engine of our industrial policy.
16:59We need to decarbonate our factories, we need to decarbonize our factories
17:04and we need to encourage innovation, we need to encourage new transition industries,
17:11we need to strengthen the sector of recycling.
17:14I believe in an environmentalism that brings forth solutions.
17:22We will also be working on the energy mix by encouraging nuclear development,
17:31the development of nuclear power plants, including new nuclear reactors.
17:40But we will also be developing renewable sources of energy by better measuring,
17:50I'm thinking about wind turbines for example, by better measuring all their impacts.
17:57We will also encourage the use of biomass to produce gas and heat.
18:03We will develop biofuels for the aviation industry in France
18:10and in our overseas territories who have a goal of 100% of renewable energy by 2030.
18:20We will launch innovative laboratories for solar and geothermal energy.
18:25And so together we will have to control our energy needs by being more economical and more targeted.
18:39We will better target the support of individuals and companies for the thermal renovation of buildings.
18:51The energy diagnostics system will be simplified as will its timeline.
18:59The state working with the largest landowners in the country has to also set an example
19:06and so we will reduce our energy expenses by reducing the spaces that we manage.
19:13At the same time, planning works will also pick up immediately the French energy climate project,
19:23the adaptation plan to climate change, the new pluriannual plan for energy.
19:28These are tools that we have in our hands and that we will use.
19:33I'd like to say a last couple of words on this topic about water, whether it's floods or droughts,
19:45pollution of our land.
19:55We have to take into account the different works that have been taken and the discussions that have been done in recent years.
20:05We need to develop our strategy on water.
20:08And so we plan to launch a large national conference to act on this question of water.
20:17These two realities, the budgetary pressure and the climate pressure,
20:22some people want to deny them or turn a blind eye on them.
20:25Some of them passively, are passive when faced with them or just comment on them.
20:32But I think sticking our head in the sand does nothing good.
20:39We cannot be fatalistic.
20:44I don't think politicians have the right to be fatalistic.
20:49So I'm convinced that we can be realistic and find a pathway through action by working through a contract rather than through constraints.
21:01And this will allow us to build new trust in our governments.
21:08Ladies and gentlemen, MPs, please look at the situation with lucid eyes.
21:17We need to look at the political juncture we now found ourselves in.
21:25The parliament has been divided in a way it hasn't been since 1958.
21:30No political party managed to get an absolute majority in the last parliamentary elections, neither alone nor with their allies.
21:41It is what the French people have chosen and it's the reality in our National Assembly today.
21:48But our fellow citizens would not forgive us if we do nothing in the three years ahead of us.
21:53And they are asking us for urgent remedies, urgent answers to several large questions.
22:00The first, fast access to quality health care near them.
22:04How to be able to live with dignity from your work and your retirement funds.
22:11How to ensure security and public services in the different areas, in the villages and neighbourhoods of France.
22:18To answer each of these questions in the very specific political situation we're in today, we need a new method.
22:29First of all, we need to listen, we need to be respectful and we need dialogue.
22:38Listening, respect and dialogue between the government and the parliament.
22:44I will ask my government to base itself more on parliamentary work when it comes to draft legislation, to amendments,
22:53to recommendations for investigations, to assessments of public policies and so on.
23:02Some of the political groups here in the National Assembly or in the Senate, some of whose members are now members of the government,
23:10I'd like to thank them for their support.
23:13I'd also like to thank all the other groups.
23:15I'd like there to be fewer texts and I think I'd like there to be more time to debate the different draft laws.
23:28We are also ready to share the agenda better between the government and the parliament, according to Article 48 of the Constitution,
23:40in order to welcome cross-party draft laws.
23:47This has been done in the past with the organic law or the finance law and I think we could do this in future for other laws on disability, for example.
23:56We need to listen, we need to be respectful and we need to take into account all the different political forces and all the different political sensitivities
24:04at the National Assembly and in the Senate.
24:07So from the get-go, we will listen to and respect each and every one of you, even if this respect is not always reciprocal.
24:26I've also heard calls for greater representativity and I am ready, the government is ready, to work without ideology on a proportional vote.
24:51This is already something that has been done in the Senate and in local governments and there have been different practices among many of our neighbouring countries.
25:01We need to listen, we need to respect, we need to work with our social partners and I'd like to be able to listen to all the partners from the trade unions and the business world,
25:16who I met with this last week and I think the situation we're faced with needs a renewal of the social dialogue and we need a new relation with the state, a constructive relation.
25:29I trust the social partners to negotiate, starting in the following weeks on senior employment, on our unemployment benefit system.
25:43I think that these actors are best placed to bring forth solutions.
25:48When it comes to the pension reform, we will also need to launch or relaunch the dialogue.
25:55We need to ensure our retirement system, the law that was voted on the 15th of April 2023, may have to be corrected.
26:10The question of progressive pension funds, the question of male-female equality when it comes to pensions, all these things need to be worked on.
26:25So we need to ask our social partners to think of possible changes to the law.
26:32We need to listen, we need to have a dialogue, we need to work with local partners, local authorities, who every day show courage and commitment.
26:42For a very long time now, I've had a very noble idea of the local authorities of our republic.
26:54Forty years after our law on decentralization, we have to create a new relationship between the local authorities and the central state.
27:03We respect the competences of each local authority and we need to reinforce these competences too and strengthen them.
27:14And so the Prime Minister will work with the elected representatives and the representatives of local authorities, especially of Corsica.
27:25So listening, respecting and taking into account the needs and the ideas of French people on the ground, who often have very good solutions that they can bring forth too.
27:38Good ideas don't always come from up above. You also need to listen to people on the ground.
27:44That is something I'm convinced of and that is why, Madam Speaker, dear MPs, there's an idea I want to work on, something that, Madam Speaker, you also defended.
28:00To organize a yearly day of citizens' consultations on this day. This is an idea that I have. It is something that, of course, we'll have to debate on.
28:11A day when all the doors would be open and Internet could be used and at each level of our all different authorities, from villages, departments of the state,
28:26everyone would be able to ask a question to the citizens and open up a debate on various topics.
28:35Listening, being respectful, an open dialogue.
28:41And then finally, three million French people live in our overseas territories and they also support our country in three different oceans.
28:54Our 12 overseas territories are an essential part of our country and our government will maintain a dialogue with these territories in respecting their diversity, their specificities, their culture,
29:05and by maintaining good relations with their elected representatives.
29:12There are representatives present here today and I will preside during the first quarter of 2025 on an inter-ministerial meeting of the representatives' overseas territories
29:28and with the employers' organizations in order to bring greater benefit to the local population.
29:41We also need to fight against the cost of living, which has also affected our co-citizens in these overseas territories.
29:53If you allow me, ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to say a couple of words about New Caledonia, whom I would like to welcome, their elected representatives who are here with us today in Parliament.
30:12It has now been four and a half months since an extremely serious crisis has hit New Caledonia.
30:22I am aware of the anxiety and the difficulties that have hit the inhabitants of this territory and I'd like to tell them that my government will be working with them.
30:30And I'd like to salute and commend all those who are working to appease the local situation, the representatives of state, the trade union representatives, the local representatives,
30:45the various players from the religious sphere, from the business sphere, and so on and so forth.
30:52We need to open up a new period that will be devoted to rebuilding the social and economic fabric of New Caledonia.
31:00We will need to work politically on its institutional future and this will be based on everyone's convictions and we will respect the diversity of the people of New Caledonia,
31:10all the while respecting democratic principles. I commit to this personally and I'd like to thank you, Madam Speaker, and I'd like to thank the Speaker of the Senate,
31:19because you both agreed to undertake a mission of dialogue and consultation that will go to New Caledonia soon.
31:27In order to guarantee that all the different issues of New Caledonia are taken into account, discussions have been launched in Paris and in New Caledonia by an inter-ministerial...
31:40Well, you've been listening there to Michel Barnier, the French President, speaking at the National Assembly, giving his inaugural address there as Prime Minister,
31:50setting out some of his policy agendas for the months ahead. Our French politics editor, Marc Périmont, has been listening to that with me.
31:58He's with me now. And Marc, let's start by looking at the atmosphere at the National Assembly in the room, because particularly at the beginning,
32:07some tensions were rather evident with left-wing MPs. Yes, and throughout the part of the whole speech we saw, we heard shouts and so on.
32:15But at the very beginning, the members of France Unbound raised their voting cards.
32:21This is a way for them to say that the voters had not been listened to by appointing Michel Barnier.
32:28There are only 47 MPs out of 577 MPs from his Conservative Party.
32:35But he is the Prime Minister addressing Parliament for his inaugural policy speech today.
32:42So this was a way for them to convey the message that the voters' wishes hadn't been respected.
32:48And throughout the speech, we heard shouts from the left, jeers and so on.
32:54Clearly, this is a very fractious National Assembly.
32:57We had lots of controversy, shouting and so on since the re-election of Emmanuel Macron in 2022, the ensuing legislative elections,
33:09which ended up with Macron's camp having a relative majority.
33:13But this was, I would say, far easier than now, where you really have the most divided National Assembly since the Fifth Republic,
33:22as Michel Barnier pointed himself out in the speech.
33:26So obviously, not an easy start for the Prime Minister in terms of how he was received in the National Assembly.
33:34And in terms of substance, Marc, no surprise, really, that a lot of his focus so far has been on the French economy.
33:41Yes. He started by quoting General de Gaulle, obviously an inspiration for the Gaullist, Michel Barnier, during World War Two,
33:48saying we have to do a lot, but we have very few assets on our side.
33:56And he was essentially using this as a comparison to say, I come in as prime minister at a very, very difficult time.
34:07We're really on the edge of the razor and the situation is dire.
34:12And he said we have two huge debts, the fiscal debt.
34:17He said it's colossal.
34:19France will have more than 6% of GDP deficit in 2025.
34:26And he said we need to address this.
34:28We cannot ignore this.
34:30This is a threat to our well-being, our children's well-being.
34:34And so he put out the objective of bringing this deficit to 5% next year and hopefully under the 3% required by the European Union by 2029.
34:46And he also said we have another debt, it's the environmental debt.
34:50And he insisted on the need to be more efficient when it comes to the energy.
34:57So when it was for the fiscal debt, he was probably trying to please the right and the Macron camp.
35:05And on the green debt, quote unquote, hopefully trying to get some favor from the left or at least from the Green Party.
35:13And he explained how he would address this debt, more efficiency for the environment.
35:19But everyone was waiting for what he would say in terms of reducing the debt and the deficit.
35:24He said two thirds of the effort would be to cut into public spending.
35:29France is spending more than all its neighbors.
35:32It's too much and it's not efficient enough.
35:34So we need really to make an effort.
35:36But he also said that a third of this effort would be by, yes, raising taxes.
35:45He obviously qualified this.
35:47It would only be a targeted, limited, temporary tax hike for big and very big companies making a lot of money.
35:56He didn't go into details and also an exceptional contribution, quote unquote, for the most rich people here in France.
36:07He didn't go into details.
36:09He said those who work and earn a living would be spared.
36:13But nevertheless, this is what the Macron camp had warned against.
36:18We don't want higher taxes.
36:19Michel Barnier said, I have no choice.
36:22Given the situation I'm facing, we'll have to raise taxes, not for everyone, only on a temporary basis.
36:29But we have to do this.
36:30And just a final thought from you, Marc, on his tone again, because when he was talking about pensions, for example,
36:38he did seem to be trying to suggest, look, I'm listening to the concerns of the French people.
36:43I want to have dialogue with French people on this issue.
36:46Perhaps that stands in slight contrast to how people sometimes see the president, Emmanuel Macron.
36:52In sharp contrast, I would argue, because clearly, Michel Barnier said, I have a method.
36:56I'm here to listen.
36:58Obviously, he knows that the math in the National Assembly are not in favour, that he has a very, very fragile situation on his hands,
37:07that he could be pushed aside by a motion of defiance any time and the budget vote will be a key moment, the first test for him.
37:16And so he said, yes, I'm going to listen.
37:18There's going to be respect and there is going to be dialogue.
37:22Decisions will not be handed down from the very top.
37:25This is obviously what Emmanuel Macron has been accused of doing.
37:29And he said, I'm going to listen. I'm going to listen to the regions, the departments in France.
37:34France is a deeply centralised country.
37:36He said we need really to make an effort also to try to talk to the unions.
37:40He's talked to some of them and he said, for example, the very, very controversial pension reform passed a year ago.
37:49There were huge protests in Parliament, but also on the streets of France.
37:53He said, you know, we should make some reasonable and fair adjustments to see if we can improve this law.
38:00So this was a way for him to show an olive branch to the unions and maybe to the left to show that he's not only a man of the right,
38:11not only a man of the alliance between the Macron camp and the conservative,
38:15but someone who could reach across the aisle in the deeply fractious Parliament.
38:21He said that there would not be a vote of confidence after the speech.
38:27It's usually the case, although his two predecessors didn't take the risk because there was a risk that they could lose this motion of no confidence.
38:36But clearly the first test will be in 10 days or so when his government will present the budget to Parliament.
38:46Mark Perelman, thanks very much indeed for your analysis there on Michel Barnier's first major speech to the National Assembly.