France facts of the day

France will spend €45bn ($43bn) next year on state subsidies to keep energy costs down…A small cut in business taxes has been spread over two years. The budget, as he pointed out, still does “a little too much” to support the use of fossil fuel…

French public finances will remain stretched. Next year sees no drop in the expected budget deficit, which will remain at 5% of gdp, or €159bn, the same level as in 2022. Public debt will remain at an alarmingly high 111% of gdp, .MEDEF, a business lobby, criticised the budget for a “lack of ambition” on public spending. Mr Le Maire has promised to curb the deficit to 3%, in line with euro-zone rules, but not until 2027. The current deficit level puts France closer to Spain than to Germany.

France spends about 14% of gdp on public pensions, compared with an OECD average of 8%.

Here is more from The Economist.  By most measures, the French budget situation could be considered worse than that of the UK, and furthermore France has less room to raise taxes in the future.  And across those two countries, which way is the migration flow for skilled labor?  Is that about to reverse?  And yet it is the current UK government that is taking such a PR whacking…