Emmanuel Macron wants to strengthen military as US pulls back from Europe but must tackle steep borrowing costs

https://archive.is/ragxN

France has racked up a mountain of national debt to reach a debt-to-GDP ratio of 113 per cent last year, behind only Greece and Italy. The budget deficit was also among the highest at 5.8 per cent of GDP at the end of 2024, far higher than the EU limit of 3 per cent.

  • Hotznplotzn@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
    51·
    25 days ago

    No one has said that France or any other country should spent less on welfare. We need both.

    Addition:

    Defence or Welfare? Europe Can Afford Both, and Must

    Framing welfare against defence is a politically damaging proposition. It is easy to see how this could be exploited by anti-EU populists and Europe’s adversaries. President Putin, undoubtedly, would welcome such a division. But the entire narrative that Europe faces a supposedly unavoidable choice between protecting its social model and bolstering its defences is not only politically unfortunate; it is empirically unfounded […]