ECB’s Villeroy: France Cannot Continue to Accumulate Debt

25 September 2024

By Isabel Teles – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member François Villeroy de Galhau on Wednesday said that France's fiscal situation was a problem that needed to be addressed.

In an interview with French public television France 2, Villeroy, who heads the Banque de France, said, 'The French disease is that we have been accumulating too much deficit and therefore too much debt for too long. And this situation cannot continue.'

International lenders were also urging France to take steps, he said.

'We talk a lot about the famous 3% deficit, I don't know if everyone is aware, we will soon be the only European country which cannot bring its debt down to 3%', he said.

France would need more than three years to lower its deficit to below 3%, he said.

'I believe that doing it in three years is not realistic, economically, in terms of growth', he said. 'On the other hand, doing it in five years is possible. On this, we must mobilise.'

The growth outlook for France was 'relatively favourable', he said.

'[A]t the Banque de France we were forecasting a moderate recovery facilitated by the fall in inflation', he said. 'That's really good news'.