Stacy Meichtry

There's some talk right now about suspending the signature pension reform that Macron did a few years ago.

which basically raised the age of retirement to 64.

Now, this was one of the biggest cost saving measures of Macron's administration.

So the idea that they're going to suspend or roll back this particular overhaul, first of all, it's a sort of devastating blow to Macron's agenda.

But second of all, it really puts France in a difficult position fiscally.

Well, for the time being, investors have been deeply concerned that France, first and foremost, looks ungovernable.

And if you can't govern the country, it means you can't reform it.

And obviously, you can't do anything significant to slash its deficit.

And France's deficit is significant.

It's around 5.7% of GDP, and it's been expanding from year to year.

So what France needs to do, what Macron needs to do, is start to change the trajectory, start to narrow it, and that's really been the point of these budget negotiations.

Now, he had one prime minister who was ousted in a confidence vote because he tried to trim 44 billion euros from France's public spending.

That got him thrown out of office.

The next prime minister is going to face...

some real difficulty here.

It's going to be a real balancing act.

Thank you.

Glad to be here.