France has “one of the biggest budget deficits in its history” and the situation “is serious,” new Economy Minister Antoine Armand told France Inter radio.

“Except for a year or two of exceptional crisis nature in the last fifty years, we have run one of the largest deficits in our history. The situation is serious”he said as an excessive deficit procedure has been initiated by Brussels against France.

According to a report by Les Echos, the Ministry of Economy expects the fiscal deficit to reach 6% in 2024, much higher than the 5.1% according to the last forecast. The minister declined to answer whether France would meet the forecast for this year and said he was working so that a reliable forecast of the situation would be presented soon.

On the possibility of an increase in the tax burden on some large companies, which Patrick Marten, head of employers’ union Medef, said he was “ready to discuss” under conditions, the finance minister replied: “We will work with him, with all businesses of all sizes, with the social partners, of course”. “The dialogue with the social partners must be repeated.”

“We will work according to the seriousness of the situation. (…) My job is to ensure that any tax increases that will be imposed will not hinder our economic growth, will not hinder the creation of jobs,” he said.

French Prime Minister Michel Barnier on Sunday raised the possibility of targeted taxation of the wealthiest or big businesses to turn around the country’s fiscal situation, which is threatened by another deficit deviation this year, after the first deviation in 2023.

“People who have very large fortunes, who sometimes don’t pay a lot of taxes, (…) we will see in the coming weeks(…): Can they contribute more to the situation we live in?”.

The French government will have to submit at the beginning of October, with an unprecedented delay, a draft budget for 2025 with the aim of restructuring the country’s finances.

Antoine Armand reiterated that the eventual tax increase will not affect the middle classes.