Debt and public spending, Édouard Philippe
Fiscal rules: Golden rule on deficit control in the Constitution, by referendum
Direction of change: creation of a scheme, compared with current law.
The lever. Rules governing the deficit and debt: European rules, golden rule written into the Constitution, programming act. Direction rule: ↑ tighter rules.
« Inscrire dans la Constitution une règle d'or de maîtrise des déficits via un référendum, et ramener le déficit de plus de 5% à 2% du PIB à la fin du quinquennat. »1Translation by the editorsWrite into the Constitution a golden rule on deficit control via a referendum, and bring the deficit down from more than 5% to 2% of GDP by the end of the five-year term.
Words of Édouard Philippe, Site de campagne « Avec Édouard 2027 », priorité « Pour une France plus prospère » (page non datée, consultée le 14 octobre 2026), 14 October 2026. Position taken from public statements, not from a written programme.
No programme released. Positions taken from public statements, words of associates or documents of the candidate’s party, each dated and sourced; last recorded on 18 October 2026.
Encoding
No cost-schedule parameter for this position: see the costing for the reason.
Costing
Announced by the candidate
not announced
The cited source does not cost this measure.
Published costings
none
No external costing of this position recorded to date.
Our calculation
lever that cannot be costed
Lever with no coefficient in the cost schedule: the position is compared, not costed.
Current law, sources and limits of the cost schedule
Current law. Stability Pact revised in April 2024 (EU Regulations 2024/1263 and 2024/1264): reference values of 3% for the deficit and 60% for debt; operational criterion = net primary expenditure path of the PSMT 2025-2029. For France, under the excessive deficit procedure since July 2024: reduction of the structural deficit by at least 0.5 points of GDP per year as long as the deficit exceeds 3%. Possible sanction of up to 0.05% of GDP every six months (about €1.5bn). In domestic law: LOLF, LPFP 2023-2027, HCFP.
Horizon. Not applicable.
Limits. Institutional lever: exit from or renegotiation of the rules, golden rule, exclusion of investment or defence (national escape clause). No static cost; encoded as direction of change. The escape clause for defence allows a limited deviation.
- Sénat, L'essentiel sur le RAA 2026, 2026-04: « Elle fait de l'évolution des dépenses primaires nettes ... le principal critère opérationnel ... une sanction financière pouvant aller jusqu'à 0,05 % de son PIB de l'année précédente, soit environ 1,5 milliard d'euros, tous les six mois »
- Fipeco, Les nouvelles règles budgétaires européennes, 2026-04-14: « cette trajectoire doit permettre de réduire le déficit structurel de 0,5 point de PIB par an tant que le déficit public est supérieur à 3,0 % du PIB »
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.
- Site de campagne « Avec Édouard 2027 », priorité « Pour une France plus prospère » (page non datée, consultée le 14 octobre 2026), 14 October 2026. Words of Édouard Philippe. Position taken from public statements, not from a written programme. Read the source (Site de campagne « Avec Édouard 2027 », priorité « Pour une France plus prospère » (page non datée, consultée le 14 octobre 2026)).
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