François Hollande said he would press ahead with controversial and difficult budget cuts, as the French president sought to counter a perception that his administration had lost momentum just days after the country's sovereign rating was downgraded.
Mr Hollande said the economy was improving and underscored the Socialist government’s “historic” commitment to reducing the budget deficit. There would be “less spending in 2014 than in 2013”, he said, adding that the government’s planned pensions reform would be crucial in Paris’s efforts to reduce the budget deficit. At the same time, Mr Hollande was careful to say that public spending cuts would be implemented at a rate “compatible with growth".
The president, however, said the economy would perform better in the second half than the first half, in line with government forecasts, which are more optimistic than official figures. The French economy contracted 0.2 per cent in the first quarter according to the independent National Statistics office, which forecasts a 0.2 increase in national output in the second quarter, stagnation in the third quarter and a 0.1 per cent rise in the fourth.
It was the first time the French president had spoken publicly since a government minister was fired this month for criticising the government’s programme of budget cuts.
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