The latest proposals from France's Socialists are not a "counter-budget," said Patrick Kanner, leader of the party's senators: "For it to be a counter-budget, there would have to be a budget in the first place…"

Just days before the expected fall of Prime Minister François Bayrou on Monday, September 8, and his plan for €44 billion in savings, the Socialists' "alternative project for France" already looks like a tool for the post-Bayrou period and future negotiations on forming a government.

This tool remains true to the spirit – if not the letter – of the budgetary roadmap set out in 2024 by the left-wing Nouveau Front Populaire (NFP) coalition. "I see the philosophy of raising revenue to reduce the deficit and increase public spending," economist Anne-Laure Delatte told Le Monde after being invited to the Socialists' national executive committee on Tuesday, September 2.

The essence of this plan, summarized by Socialist Senator Laurence Rossignol, is to declare that "yes, we agree with the idea that we need a pathway to reduce the deficit," but also to introduce greater tax fairness by making the wealthy contribute more, and finally to invest, following a Keynesian logic, to revive economic activity.

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