“He thinks he’s right about public finances: Macronomics is still a good strategy,” said a person close to the president, who, like other officials quoted in this story, was granted anonymity to speak freely on a sensitive issue.

Macron has refused to publicly support Barnier’s efforts to rein in the budget deficit through tax increases and spending cuts. Doing this can be seen as tantamount to giving up. his economic legacy Tax cuts and generous subsidies to boost growth.

“You need political courage and you need to be fair to your people, but the solution is not to make short-term adjustments in spending,” Macron said. in question at an event in Berlin earlier this month. He also warned against increasing taxes.

“It is smarter to work on (job creation) rather than obsessively focus on short-term measures that could kill growth,” he said.

Barnier’s team is acutely aware of this silence and appears to believe Macron’s team is ignoring the issue for the sake of political interestThey fear tax rises and spending cuts will be unpopular ahead of the June EU elections and subsequent early national elections; both were lost to Macron’s wing.

In the private conversation, the prime minister questioned how seriously the president was taking the “budget emergency,” according to a person with direct knowledge of the dossier.