France needs so much new public spending that it can no longer afford the luxury of being inefficient or spendthrift

France will have to address many needs for new public spending: in healthcare, education, to finance strategic reshoring, assist the energy transition, fight poverty, etc. Given the starting levels of public spending, the tax burden and public debt, it will not be possible to simply add this new public spending on top of existing spending. The ECB will not continue to monetise structural fiscal deficits caused by permanent public spending. However, French public spending is inefficient in many areas (healthcare, education) , the French pension system is considerably more generous than in other European countries , and labour productivity is weak in the French public sector. To be able to carry out this useful new public spending, these anomalies in the functioning and in the choices of the French state will have to be corrected.