At the end of the day does public debt have to be more important than just one criterion?
THE PRESIDENT – Public debt is extremely important since the progression is the following order: too much spending, not enough income, too high a deficit and, in the end, too much debt. Sorry to explain it very simply, but that’s nevertheless how it is. Deficit and debt aren’t two different things. The debt is always the sum of the deficits. So it’s a priority. Of course, there was a debate in which France didn’t take part on whether to consider only public debt, or whether to take account of private debt, of household debt as well, or of all these criteria on which, at the end of the day, sustainability depends, to use the jargon. We haven’t yet decided exactly what’s going to be done, but these are issues we’re talking about together and taking up. PENSION PLAN Now you ask me: “are you going to present the French pension plan?” I remind you that pension plans are, of course, a matter for national and not Community decisions – although, of course, every government in Europe is facing
