“I am not here to help everyone”: Roland Lescure confirms that the new aid will remain “focused on those who need it most” and in particular “those who work”

Invited this Tuesday on BFM Business, the Minister of the Economy announced that a joint press release would be published at the end of the G7 Finances which is taking place in Bercy. He also assured that the French economy showed resilience despite “the headwinds” it faces.

Meeting in Bercy since Monday, the G7 Finance Ministers will publish a joint press release at the end of their meetings. This is what Economy Minister Roland Lescure announced this Tuesday on BFM Business. “There is going to be a press release, it is an announcement that I am making because at the G7 we always wonder if we can reach enough agreement to publish a press release,” he declared.

“You will see that, in this press release, there are a certain number of important subjects on which we agree.”

If the minister admitted to having “wondered” at the start of the year if the G7 “was still useful for something”, particularly in a context of strong international tensions, he said he had “realized that, yes, it works because we are able to talk to each other about everything”.

The press release expected at the end of the morning should therefore address “a certain number of important subjects on which we agree”, he added. Among them, “the essential desire to manage global imbalances”, “aid to the most vulnerable countries”, “the challenges of the crisis” in the Middle East and its impact “on the daily lives of our fellow citizens”.

“Neither stagflation, nor recession”

As a result of this conflict between the United States, Israel and Iran, the rise in bond rates in recent days has also been the subject of discussions at the G7 Finances. While France now borrows at 3.80% for 10 years, Roland Lescure wanted to reassure. Denouncing the “prophets of doom”, he called for “looking at things realistically”:

“We have to look at the facts. (…) Obviously we have headwinds: the crisis is not good news for interest rates, it means that I am paying more for our debt, almost 4 billion euros. But for the moment the French economy is resisting and not for nothing: because that we have a better energy mix than most European countries, because we have automatic stabilizers like the minimum wage which will increase, which means that consumption will resist,” continued the Minister of the Economy.

Roland Lescure, Minister of the Economy, Finance and Industrial Sovereignty – 05/19

Certainly, “we are facing an international crisis which has an impact, which causes (the economy) to slow down but today, there is neither stagflation nor recession in France and I hope that this will continue”, he insisted. “The reality is that we are in a storm but we resist and we continue to move forward.”

For the crisis not to weaken the French economy too much, it will however “not last too long”, admitted Roland Lescure. “And this is a major challenge of this multilateral discussion: setting up negotiations. This is what France wants to do as quickly as possible to reopen the Strait of Hormuz which is the economic node of the conflict in the Middle East.”

Totalenergies’ help “is welcome”

The tenant of Bercy, on the other hand, recognized that the repercussions of the conflict on fuel prices are likely to last because “even if we open the Strait of Hormuz tomorrow, it will take time before the tankers arrive on our coasts. Prices at the pump will therefore undoubtedly remain high. But in the same way as It went up quickly, if oil goes down, I expect pump prices to go down too,” he added. Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu must announce new aid this Thursday to support the most vulnerable in this context of soaring fuel prices:

“What we want is, at a time when public finances are under pressure and the public euro is rare, to focus on the most vulnerable, on those who need it the most, I am not here to help everyone,” warned Roland Lescure, specifying that he wanted to help first and foremost “those who work”.

He finally welcomed the announcement from Totalenergies which has decided to extend the price cap in its stations until the Pentecost weekend. According to him, Patrick Pouyanné, boss of the oil group, “is aware that in the current period he is one of the winners and that he can redistribute part of his gains to French consumers, it is rather welcome”. But “I don’t tell him ‘thank you’ or ‘I’m going to take away the Legion of Honor’ as some have considered doing,” said the minister, also believing that having this “integrated major in France is rather an advantage” because it is thanks to it “that we have the essence, the kerosene for our planes…”.