France is aiming to cut its budget deficit by 100 billion euros (US$121 billion) by 2013 and bring it down to the EU target of 3 percent of GDP, French Prime Minister Francois Fillon said on Saturday.
Fillon said about half the amount would come from public spending cuts and the balance from the suppression of tax exemptions and higher tax receipts, spurred by economic growth.
PLEDGE
“We have made the pledge to bring down our deficit to 3 percent from 8 percent by 2013 and all our efforts will be focused on this priority,” Fillon told a gathering of UMP party members in Paris.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy visits Berlin today to discuss European economic policy.
France is looking to anchor its commitment to tighter fiscal policy after Berlin announced plans earlier this month to make savings totaling 80 billion euros by 2014.
France said last month it would freeze public spending over the next three years, cut state operating costs by 10 percent and save another 5 billion euros from eliminating certain tax exemptions.
France’s stability pact with Brussels entails a budget deficit of 6 percent of GDP next year, 4.6 percent in 2012 and 3 percent in 2013, based on economic growth of 2.5 percent as of next year.
“Our handicap compared to Germany, in terms of structural reforms, debt and deficit reductions, is catching up with us,” Jean-Pierre Jouyet, head of the French markets regulator AMF, told Le Monde newspaper in an interview published on Saturday.
SALARY CUT
Jouyet also offered to take a salary cut to share the pain. He told Le Monde he would not be against seeing his 300,000 euros annual salary slashed by 20 percent to 30 percent.
“This seems to me to be justified,” Jouyet said. “Public sectors workers must be ready to participate in a common effort.”
CRITICAL MOVE: TSMC’s plan to invest another US$100 billion in US chipmaking would boost Taiwan’s competitive edge in the global market, the premier said The government would ensure that the most advanced chipmaking technology stays in Taiwan while assisting Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) in investing overseas, the Presidential Office said yesterday. The statement follows a joint announcement by the world’s largest contract chipmaker and US President Donald Trump on Monday that TSMC would invest an additional US$100 billion over the next four years to expand its semiconductor manufacturing operations in the US, which would include construction of three new chip fabrication plants, two advanced packaging facilities, and a research and development center. The government knew about the deal in advance and would assist, Presidential
‘DANGEROUS GAME’: Legislative Yuan budget cuts have already become a point of discussion for Democrats and Republicans in Washington, Elbridge Colby said Taiwan’s fall to China “would be a disaster for American interests” and Taipei must raise defense spending to deter Beijing, US President Donald Trump’s pick to lead Pentagon policy, Elbridge Colby, said on Tuesday during his US Senate confirmation hearing. The nominee for US undersecretary of defense for policy told the Armed Services Committee that Washington needs to motivate Taiwan to avoid a conflict with China and that he is “profoundly disturbed” about its perceived reluctance to raise defense spending closer to 10 percent of GDP. Colby, a China hawk who also served in the Pentagon in Trump’s first team,
SEPARATE: The MAC rebutted Beijing’s claim that Taiwan is China’s province, asserting that UN Resolution 2758 neither mentions Taiwan nor grants the PRC authority over it The “status quo” of democratic Taiwan and autocratic China not belonging to each other has long been recognized by the international community, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday in its rebuttal of Beijing’s claim that Taiwan can only be represented in the UN as “Taiwan, Province of China.” Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) yesterday at a news conference of the third session at the 14th National People’s Congress said that Taiwan can only be referred to as “Taiwan, Province of China” at the UN. Taiwan is an inseparable part of Chinese territory, which is not only history but
INVESTMENT WATCH: The US activity would not affect the firm’s investment in Taiwan, where 11 production lines would likely be completed this year, C.C. Wei said Investments by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) in the US should not be a cause for concern, but rather seen as the moment that the company and Taiwan stepped into the global spotlight, President William Lai (賴清德) told a news conference at the Presidential Office in Taipei yesterday alongside TSMC chairman and chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家). Wei and US President Donald Trump in Washington on Monday announced plans to invest US$100 billion in the US to build three advanced foundries, two packaging plants, and a research and development center, after Trump threatened to slap tariffs on chips made
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