Pierre Moscovici, chairman of the Court of Auditors, remained confident that there had been a “warning” from the Supreme Council for Public Finance. He called for fiscal prudence.
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Pierre Moscovici, the first president of the Court of Auditors was the guest of 8.30 franceinfo on Tuesday 11 November 2025. Budget 2026, suspension of pension reform and a secret letter from Bruno Lemaire… He responded to Agathe Lambret and Paul Larrouturou.
A “Slip like that” from the public deficit “unpredictable”, according to the first president of the Court of Auditors Pierre Moscovici, guest at 08:30 franceinfo Tuesday 11 November. He was reacting to a secret letter sent by Bruno Le Maire, Minister of the Economy at the time, to Emmanuel Macron regarding the slipping public deficit in 2024, which was revealed in the C Dans L’Air program on France 5, Sunday.
In this letter of April 6 2024, Bruno Le Maire warns the President of the Republic regarding irregularities in the public accounts and proposes budget changes to correct them and limit the deficit to 4.9% of GDP in 2024. “We risk being accused of hiding our copies and painful savings for the day after the European elections”, Bercy tenants wrote to Emmanuel Macron. His recommendations were not followed by the Élysée. The public deficit then reached 5.8% of GDP, a difference of more than 40 billion euros.
Pierre Moscovici emphasized that there “have a warning” from the High Council for Public Finance which he chairs “Before” this year 2024. “We say that growth estimates are too high, we say that there are inconsistencies in economic reasoning, we emphasize that consumption is too high and income also seems to be too high,” stressed the first president of the Court of Auditors.
However, despite these warnings, the man who will leave his post at the end of this year to join the European Court of Auditors believes that the scale of the deficit “unpredictable”. “Nobody is seeing a drop in revenue,” he added. “We can argue, but in the end there is a decision and the decision is in everyone’s hands. Therefore, all parties who make decisions must be responsible for those decisions,” continued Pierre Moscovici. “This is a matter of principle that I am raising. This is not an individual matter. I think we need to unite,” he insisted, unwillingly “Get involved in this debate” and the controversy over Bruno Le Maire’s declaration.
“In budget debates, you should always tell the truth.”
Pierre Moscovici, first president of the Court of Auditorsat franceinfo
“As we do this, we need to take a cautious, even pessimistic, approach rather than an optimistic or proactive approach,” he argued. Pierre Moscovici reminds us that, in his opinion, it is necessary “It is important that the budget chosen is below 5% to maintain credibility.” Hearing from the deputies of the finance committee regarding the reduction in the public deficit at the beginning of the year, he called on the HCFP to provide assistance to the HCFP. “binding force” in terms of counter estimates “political hubris”.
Watch the full interview:
