Will France end up being forced to hike taxes sharply?

The risk for France is that: Public spending needs remain very high (healthcare, energy transition, reindustrialisation, fight against poverty, education, low public sector wages , etc.); At some point in the future, the ECB will stop buying public debt due to the economic recovery, the risk of bubbles and legal constraints. The fiscal deficit will then have to be reduced so that it can be financed and acceptable even to revamped European fiscal rules; It remains extremely difficult to improve the efficiency of government and to reduce some public spending items (pensions); It is not at all clear that additional public investment will increase potential growth sufficiently to significantly reduce the fiscal deficit. Moreover, the COVID crisis may instead reduce potential growth; France’s only remaining option will then be to hike taxes, despite the already very high level of its tax burden.