On March 27, 2025, INSEE unveiled the official figures for the French public deficit for 2024. The verdict is clear: France has reached a deficit of 5,8% of gross domestic product (GDP), slightly better than the projected 6%, but still far from the 4,4% hoped for in 2023. At the same time, public debt has crossed a new symbolic threshold, reaching €3 billion, or 305,3% of GDP, and this is not good news. In Europe, only Italy and Greece are in a worse situation, but this does not change the worrying picture painted by these figures.
Insufficient revenue and uncontrolled spending
If we look at the causes of this continued deterioration, we must first point out tax revenues that are well below forecasts. In 2024, these revenues increased by 3,1%, certainly, but significantly less quickly than GDP. The slow economic recovery after the 2023 recession and the absence of significant structural reforms have weighed on public finances. As for public spending, it continued its dizzying rise, with an increase of 3,9%, now representing 57,1% of GDP.
The government, which initially forecast a 6% deficit for the year, is nonetheless displaying a measure of optimism. Public Accounts Minister Amélie de Montchalin announced that the deficit would be "a tiny bit better than expected," but this "small improvement" in no way masks a reality that remains catastrophic. The stated objective for 2025 is to reduce the deficit to 5,4%, but the real ambition is to return below the 3% mark by 2029, which seems completely unrealistic in the current political and economic context. Indeed, faced with an increasingly radical opposition and an economy that will continue to struggle to take off, the government will be forced to maneuver with increasingly limited room for maneuver.
An exploding debt that jeopardizes the economic future
But the debt continues to climb. In 2024, it increased by €202,7 billion, a veritable time bomb for the French economy. This figure is simply staggering and demonstrates irresponsible and out-of-touch budget management. Local government debt has also ballooned, increasing by €11,9 billion, an additional burden that weighs heavily on local authorities already under pressure.
It's worth remembering that France's debt is now the third highest in the eurozone, after Greece and Italy. Instead of playing a leading role in managing the eurozone, France is becoming a model of what not to do: accumulating debt, breaking promises, and tax pressures that are increasingly suffocating the middle classes and businesses every day.
And meanwhile, Europe continues to transform into an inefficient bureaucratic machine, multiplying economic and social constraints without offering tangible solutions. France, with its string of deficits and rising debts, is sinking into a dangerous spiral, from which it seems impossible to escape without a break with European dogmas and a return to truly sovereign and liberal policies.
The government is attempting to reassure public opinion by announcing the creation of an alert committee in April, involving parliamentarians and local authorities, but this initiative seems more of a PR measure than a genuine solution to a major structural problem. One question inevitably arises: at what point will France decide to regain control of its finances and economic choices, far from the dictates of Brussels and its European partners?
