“We bequeath to those who arrive in life a backpack six times heavier than when I was 20”: the former governor of the Bank of France warns against “the illusion of unlimited debt”

The former governor of the Bank of France, François Villeroy de Galhau, warned against "the illusion of unlimited debt", in an interview with Radio Classique this Thursday. “I see certain programs which continue not to deal with deficits and debt. This means that we are going into the wall and playing against the youth because we are leaving a legacy to those who are coming up in life (...

) a backpack six times heavier than when I was 20 years old", estimated François Villeroy de Galhau, without however wanting to target a particular program. "We are implicitly making - the most serious thing is that it is implicit, we have never debated it - a choice for the generations in place, including me. I am not against seniors, I am 67 years old.

But we are making a choice against the youth, we bequeath to them the addition of the fact that we live a little beyond our means, it's like the climate", continued the former governor of the Bank of France, now president of the Apprentis d'Auteuil Foundation. "There is a very understandable background of anxiety", he added, about the recent high school mobilization. "Young people are a resource for our country before being a problem.

There is a small risk at the moment of saying 'ah when they are turbulent...' Violence is unacceptable, but basically, what chances are we giving these young people? “Focus on productivity Asked about ways to increase wages, François Villeroy de Galhau insisted on the importance of increasing productivity, in order to increase the growth potential of the economy to around 1.5%, compared to 1% currently.

“The long-term remedy is to have more growth. The law of wages is that they increase when we produce more or better with a certain quantity of work,” he clarified, noting that the remuneration of existing employees had increased relatively little in recent years. “In the short term, there was this increase in the minimum wage, I mention in the book a somewhat new idea which is to say: could we, in a social negotiation, try to lift two taboos?

On the one hand, there is perhaps a little room to increase wages at company level; wage moderation is strong in France. And there should be acceptance on the part of the unions that certain costs of non-work are too high. (...

) Isn’t there a little something to grind on both sides? ", launched the former governor of the Bank of France, recent author of the book Croire en la France resolement (Odile Jacob).

Machine-translated from French