Debt and public spending, David Lisnard
Level of public spending: Public spending cut by 8 points of GDP in 10 years, below 50% of GDP
Direction of change: decrease, compared with current law.
The lever. Targeted change in total public spending (State, social security, local authorities), in volume or as a share of gross domestic product. Direction rule: ↑ higher public spending.
« il est possible de les réduire de 8 points de PIB en 10 ans et de les maintenir en-deçà de 50% »1Translation by the editorsit is possible to reduce them by 8 points of GDP in 10 years and to keep them below 50%
Encoding
No cost-schedule parameter for this position: see the costing for the reason.
Costing
Announced by the candidate
not announced
The programme does not cost this measure.
Published costings
none
No external costing of this position recorded to date.
Our calculation
lever that cannot be costed
Level target (−8 points of GDP in ten years, below 50%): it is compared with the sum of the costed measures, not added to it.
Current law, sources and limits of the cost schedule
Current law. Public spending 2025: €1,714bn, i.e. 57.2% of GDP (57.0% in 2024); euro area 49.8%, Germany 50.5%. European norm: net primary expenditure capped at +1.2% in 2026, 2027 and 2028 and +1.1% in 2029 (Council recommendation of 21 January 2025).
Horizon. Ratio in 2032; gap with the PSMT path.
Limits. Targeted level of spending, not a measure: consistency check against the sum of costed measures. Outcome lever, not a measure lever: it serves as a consistency check against the sum of measures. Fipeco: « l'écart de 6,7 points avec l'Allemagne = 200 Md€ » [“the gap of 6.7 points with Germany = €200bn”].
- Fipeco, Définition, niveau et répartition des dépenses publiques, 2026-05-15: « En 2025, les dépenses publiques s'élèvent en France à 1 714 Md€, soit l'équivalent de 57,2 points de PIB ... Celles de l'Allemagne représentent 50,5 % de son PIB, soit un écart de 6,7 points avec la France (200 Md€ ...) »
- Sénat, L'essentiel sur le RAA 2026, 2026-04: « Recommandation du Conseil 0,8 % 1,2 % 1,2 % 1,2 % 1,1 % [2025-2029] ... Total 5,50 % »
How to read these amounts. These are static costs and revenues, with no feedback effect, over a full year: nothing on growth, employment or the revenue that economic activity would gain or lose. A higher net cost does not on its own make a worse policy, nor net savings a better one: each programme rests on an economic model (demand-led stimulus, lower compulsory levies, consolidation of the public accounts…) that the cost schedule does not settle. GDP itself measures a volume of activity, not well-being or the usefulness of what is produced. Economic models and feedback effects.
- Programme Nouvelle Énergie, « Être maître de notre destin ». Read the programme page.
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