France: political stability vs fiscal consolidation?

France ended 2024 without a budget, without growth, and without much political visibility. What will the situation be in 2025? Political stability is the key to securing approval of the budget, which is itself a prerequisite to lifting the weight of uncertainty depressing the morale of households and businesses. If it wants to survive, the Bayrou government must gain the neutrality of the Socialist Party and, to this end, it says it is ready to tighten taxes on the productive forces, to reduce efforts on spending, and even to re-examine the latest pension reform. This amounts to buying political tranquillity by sacrificing, once again, any real attempt to clean up public finances.