“It cannot and should not be the return of whatever it costs,” warns the governor of the Banque de France

François Villeroy de Galhau says hoping on France Inter “the military awakening of Europe but also its economic and financial awakening. Let’s not separate both,” he advises. To “reimburse well tomorrow”, you need growth.

France’s rearmament “cannot and should not be the return of whatever it costs”declared this Friday morning On France Inter The governor of the Banque de France, François Villeroy de Galhau. In a speech on March 5, Emmanuel Macron called for “Additional investments” in the defense, “become essential” facing the “Russian threat”.

“It cannot be and it should not be the return of whatever it costs. It must be, and it is the hope that I manifest, the military awakening of Europe but also its economic and financial awakening. Let us not separate both because it is necessary to finance this additional expenditure by an additional European and French growth and we have the means“, estimates François Villeroy de Galhau.

“Today, we are talking about the defense effort but we risk forgetting the second leg which is the strengthening of European growth”he alerts. “There is the question of knowing today, but the real question is how we will reimburse tomorrow because whatever the source of financing, it is additional credit and debt. However, to reimburse this debt tomorrow, we must both stop the growth of public spending in France and increase the growth of the economy.”

The governor of the Banque de France describes a current economic landscape in which “There is good and very bad”. “The very bad is Mr. Trump’s policy”, said François Villeroy de Galhau, notably evoking the customs duties imposed by the American president. “The European Union has the means of reprisals, but you have to want climbing to stop”, he underlines.

“What’s going on in the United States is bad news first for the American economy” car “The economy is to create prosperity together, we exchange talents, ideas, products, innovations”. “Today we have this amazing situation, when the American economy was going very well at the start of the year, some people revive their forecasts of American growth and are starting to speak of a risk of recession in the United States, so it is a losing policy,” he insists.

This also has consequences for other countries, and in front of this, the governor of the Banque de France calls for a “In addition to European will”, with “More growth”. He believes that “Hope is Europe”. As much as “Victory” against inflation “is insured in France, and in progress in Europe”, he underlines. “Our forecasts confirm this, inflation has returned around 1% in France and will return to 2% on an average of European. We will not go back on prices, but during this time, wages, pensions, social benefits have also increased”. This has two positive consequences for the French: the drop in interest rates and the “Back to purchasing power on wages. Since last year, prices have been increasing less quickly than wages and this should feed household consumption.”