With the reopening of French bars and restaurants last week, President Emmanuel Macron’s government has experienced an important moment: how to get rid of the hard-hit Covid economy and restore it to health.

When the pandemic began, Macron promised to do “at all costs“Support enterprises and workers through a series of programs, such as vacations, loans and cash support.

But now, as the scale of emergency assistance begins to shrink, the president who will run for re-election in May must show voters that he can get the French economy back on track. Well-known economists and political opponents, such as Marine Le Pen, are urging the government to think more about stimulus.

Macron said that he wanted to conduct extensive consultations with citizens and business leaders this summer to “invent a second-stage economic growth plan”, thus proposing the idea of ??increasing state spending. [economic] Restart”-on the basis of the 100 billion euro recovery plan already implemented in France submitted Approved by the European Union.

Ministers also coveted the attractive prospect of more funding, and at the same time, the country must wait and see how the economy performs under the plan.

At the same time, in order to show the weight of voters Macron on the European stage, France it has started Lobby the EU to take new measures to strengthen investment to keep up with the fast-growing US and Chinese economies.

“The question that may be asked is whether we need a long-term investment plan because we have to plan before 2022… Back to our level of economic activity in 2019, can we do better?” The Minister of Finance Bruno Le Maire told France Information.

In Brussels, almost no one is willing to reopen negotiations on the 750 billion euro recovery plan for the 27 member states: “It’s too early,” said Margrethe Vestager, Executive Vice President of the European Commission. tell Les Echos newspaper.

France will receive 40 billion euros of its 100 billion euros European Recovery Plan. Although EU funds have not yet begun to flow, France has allocated 30 billion euros for the project.

These are based on three priorities: green investments, such as clean fuel research and building renovations; measures to improve competitiveness, such as factory modernization; and “social cohesion”, including health and vocational training.

But the difficulty of obtaining more funds in Europe and the fact that Macron and his ministers have denied any recent EU agreements have intensified the suggestion that politics is also driving the French president to worry about the United States and China stealing the EU. . Innovation.

Nevertheless, with the reduction of emergency support, the question of whether EU countries such as France should increase spending remains a related issue.

Some economists pointed to the trillion-dollar expenditure plan of US President Joe Biden, calling for direct transfers to low-income households and canceling debt support from severely affected enterprises. These enterprises received state-backed loans and adopted Greater stimulus measures.

in a Recent papersJean Pisani-Ferry and economist Olivier Blanchard said that France should increase spending beyond the currently planned 60 billion euros.

Pisani-Ferry, the former head of the French economic planning agency, said: “Even if this crisis leaves scars, there are ways to heal at least some of them.”

He added that Macron “should not delay” measures such as debt cancellation, because failure to inject sufficient funds into the economy may turn into a “self-fulfilling prophecy” of low growth.

One of the priorities is to induce the French to spend the 165 billion euros they saved last year. According to these data, spending 20% ??of the savings on beverages, food and outing activities can generate an additional 1.7% GDP growth. See you, National Bureau of Statistics.

After six months of closure, when it reopened for outdoor services last Wednesday, many restaurants and bars eagerly welcomed returning customers. But some people decided not to reopen because they feared that restrictions such as a curfew at 9 p.m. would make it unprofitable.

At the same time, other companies are struggling to deal with last year’s debt, including government-backed debt. PGE Loan plan. Trade groups argue that such companies should be allowed to extend the loan period to six years. However, such a modification may prove to be expensive, and the bank is reluctant to agree to it.

A Parisian restaurant owner, Michelin-starred chef Yannick Alleno, tried to extend his 1.5 million euros state-guaranteed loan for another year, but when the bank said that the renegotiation would cost about 50,000 euros upfront costs, it decided to refuse. He said: “Many restaurants are now heavily in debt.” “We need to help protect employees’ jobs.”

Another sensitive question is whether the company will lay off employees in the next few months because the government has reduced its support for the government through reduced vacation plans, which have so far prevented the unemployment rate from soaring.

Pisani-Ferry said that if Macron wants to protect jobs and ensure that consumer confidence remains high, he will need to let go of the lead.

He believes that the risk of expanding stimulus measures that will be used to purchase foreign goods and increase public debt is offset by the benefits of faster economic growth, which has been predicted to reach at least 5.5% this year and next year. 4%. The Central Bank of France.

“There are no hard budget constraints in the short term, but soft political constraints… The French government does not want to give people the impression of unlimited consumption.” said Philip Martin, chairman of the French Economic Analysis Committee.

Daniela Ordonez, chief French economist at the Oxford Institute for Economic Research, went further. He believed that Macron did not need to increase spending in Europe: “France can do whatever it wants.” She said , But politically speaking, this is another matter.

With France taking over the EU presidency in 2022 and the upcoming general election, “Macron wants Europe to be a game changer, and he wants to show that Europe has changed under his leadership.”