PARIS (Reuters) -French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu aims to put an over 30-billion-euro squeeze on the budget next year to get the fiscal deficit down to 4.7% of economic output, La Tribune reported on Monday.
The issue, which is set to be published on Tuesday, said the budget would aim to cut costs by 31 billion euros through a mix of spending cuts and increased revenue.
The budget is expected to include a tax measure targeting holding companies used by the wealthy and will not raise pensions and social benefits in line with inflation, the newspaper reported.
France has the euro zone’s largest deficit, and French President Emmanuel Macron has charged a string of prime ministers with passing tighter budgets. Lecornu’s two immediate predecessors, Michel Barnier and Francois Bayrou, were both ousted over plans to trim the budget.
Lecornu, who resigned last week after serving as prime minister for just 27 days before being renominated by Macron later in the week, is Macron’s fifth prime minister in five years. He already faces two possible no-confidence votes, and it is unclear if he has the votes to survive the end of the week.
(Reporting by Makini Brice, Leigh Thomas, Richard Lough and Geert De Clercq)
