The new French Finance Minister, Antoine Armand, tried on Monday to convince his EU counterparts of Paris' budgetary seriousness at a meeting in Luxembourg, after a major slip-up in 2024. The French budget for 2025, which is to be presented on Thursday, "will be fully in line with the new European budgetary rules", he promised at a meeting of the 27 ministers.Postponement of the indexation of pensions, merger of certain public services, reduction in the number of civil servants, or contribution of the most fortunate to the budgetary effort: the measures already mentioned by the government demonstrate the significant efforts to be implemented to reduce the public deficit.Convincing European partners is likely to be just as difficult, as France has strayed far from the 3% of GDP threshold defined by EU budgetary rules and is now seen as a bad student.The stated objective is to reduce the deficit from 6.1% this year to 5% next year, before dropping below 3% by 2029, two years later than what was promised b y the previous government."This is a serious, credible and ambitious trajectory for our country in order to fully respect the EU budgetary rules," said Mr Armand, upon his arrival in Luxembourg for his first European meeting.Paris has been granted an extension until October 31 to present its multi-year trajectory for public finances, which was initially expected on September 20.Brussels plans to publish an opinion on the plans of the 27 member states at the end of November.European Commissioner for Economy Paolo Gentiloni on Monday welcomed "promising" initial discussions with the new French minister. "We all recognise the difficulties" that France is facing, he stressed.- 'We don't joke with the financial markets' -But German Finance Minister Christian Lindner warned that "we should not joke" about "the credibility of public finances vis-à-vis the financial markets". However, he did not wish to comment directly on the seriousness of the French plan, pending explanations from the new minister."W e must credibly reduce our deficit and our debt in order to be able to finance ourselves in a stable and efficient manner," he simply stressed, in an implicit reference to the interest rate increases on the markets which increase the cost of financing highly indebted countries.The cost of French debt has in fact increased significantly in recent months against a backdrop of political instability and new revelations about the scale of the deficit left by former minister Bruno Le Maire.Respecting European rules "is a question of international credibility and sovereignty," Antoine Armand acknowledged.The debt, at 3,228.4 billion euros at the end of June, or 112% of GDP, has swelled by a thousand billion since 2017, when Emmanuel Macron became president. It will reach almost 115% next year, almost double the maximum set at 60% by Brussels, before gradually decreasing."The brakes" on public spending are "essential, otherwise we are heading straight for a financial crisis," warned French Prime Minister Mich el Barnier on Friday.France is subject to an EU procedure for excessive deficit, along with six other countries (Italy, Belgium, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Malta). These countries last year exceeded the 3% threshold set by the Stability Pact, which also limits debt to 60% of GDP. They must take corrective measures, under penalty of financial sanctions.However, this budgetary consolidation risks slowing down already very weak European economic growth, while Germany, the EU's largest economy, is in recession.Mr Armand said he intended to get involved "personally" on the issue of "strengthening the competitiveness" of the European Union. "The EU is falling behind China and the United States in strategic areas," he warned, referring to reports by two former Italian Prime Ministers Mario Draghi and Enrico Letta, published this year.He called for "the deepening of the European single market" and in particular "the Capital Markets Union". It must help to mobilize private money to finance the digital and c limate transitions, a "fundamental project in view of the financing wall that stands before us", he stressed.Source: Burkina Information Agency