Public holidays, decentralization, Zucman Tax… Sébastien Lecornu makes Announcements

Politics: This Saturday, in front of seven journalists from the regional daily press, the new Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu made plenty of announcements

he Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu announced this Saturday that he would reverse the elimination of two public holidays planned by his predecessor François Bayrou to reduce the budget deficit, and reached out to the left to lead “a modern and frank parliamentary discussion” with it.

“I withdraw the removal of two public holidays”

“I have decided to withdraw the elimination of two public holidays”, declared the new Prime Minister in an interview with the regional daily press posted online on Saturday.

Ruling out a new conclave on pensions, he assured that he was banking on “dialogue with the social partners” to find “other sources of financing”, in this interview published by several newspapers, including West France, The Telegram, several titles from the north of France including The Voice of the North, the group’s newspapers The mountain, as well as South West, the newspapers of eastern France of the Ebra group, Free lunch, The Dispatch, Nice morning and France-antilles.

A hand extended to opposition

To break the budgetary impasse, the Prime Minister, who was appointed on Tuesday, wants to lead a “modern and frank parliamentary discussion, of a very good level” with the socialists, the Environmentalists and the Communist Party. “This republican left whose values we know must emancipate itself from La France insoumise, who excludes herself from the discussion and prefers disorder. It will be difficult but necessary to give the country a budget”, he said.

Sébastien Lecornu also raised the question of possible discussions with the Rassemblement National. “If you ask me whether we should make a political agreement with the RN, the answer is obviously no. On the other hand, refuse to discuss at the Assembly with deputies elected by a third of French people, it would make no sense”, he explained.

An implementation of the Zucman tax?

Asked about the establishment of a tax on very high assets called “Zucman” (named after the economist Gabriel Zucman), as requested by the left, he said he was ready to work on “questions of justice tax”, while calling for “attention to professional assets”, because this is what creates jobs and growth in France.

Faced with the demand of Socialist Party not to use 49.3, Sébastien Lecornu said he wished “not to be forced to use it”, without however committing never to draw this constitutional weapon to have the budget adopted. “If that were the case, it would not only be the failure of the government, it would be a failure for everyone, but France must have a budget”, he observed.

“A major act of decentralization” desired

The Prime Minister also announced the opening “from next week of consultations with a view to “a major act of decentralization, clarification and local freedom”. “We must define what we expect from the State, at a time when expectations will be increasingly high, particularly on the sovereign”, he judged, not ruling out the merger or the closure of government agencies.

“We need to reorganize ourselves to be more efficient. This will have to be studied on a case-by-case basis, without ever falling into easy criticism of our civil servants who do remarkable work”, he stressed.