Translation of the French article by Jacques Rouchaud
France has been living on credit for decades. The State sees its drawers full and dips into them without counting. Demosciocracy proposes a completely different management: that of a well-run company, where one spends only what one has, without any new borrowing.
1. The situation today
- Public debt: 3,460 billion euros at the end of 2025, i.e. 115.7% of the wealth produced in one year.
- Public deficit: 152.5 billion euros in 2025.
- 2026 State budget: 452.7 billion in expenditure for about 318 billion in revenue.
- The interest on the State debt alone costs 58 billion euros in 2026, paid by our taxes.
2. A State reduced to the essentials
The State keeps only defence and diplomacy. Its reduced ministries set the general guidelines for all the territories, under the leadership of the Council. Its budget will represent only a small fraction of today’s.
3. The territories manage everything else
The country’s revenues, including those of Social Security, are redistributed to the 352 territories, according to their population and their area. The two chambers set the sharing rule. Each territory manages its budget like a civil or commercial company, as a prudent head of household: education, health, roads, aid, as close as possible to the needs of the inhabitants.
4. Social Security maintained and controlled
Social Security is maintained, with strict control to put an end to abuses. Hospitals and dispensaries are monitored and controlled by the territories. The example of the local scheme of Alsace-Moselle, managed as close as possible to the insured and known for its sound accounts, shows that local management works.
5. Rules of good management
- No new borrowing: we spend only what we have.
- Representatives who cost almost nothing: the 720 representatives of the two chambers keep their salary, paid by their company or their department, and only their actual expenses are reimbursed on presentation of receipts. About 5 million euros a year, compared with 961 million for the National Assembly and the Senate today.
- No more consulting firms chosen in back offices: ministers may rely on companies only at the request of the government team and after a call for tenders organised by the two chambers.
- Agencies that prove their usefulness or disappear: the State today has 1,153 national public bodies.
- A liberal economy under permanent competition for everything that is not a public service.
6. A Europe that makes a fresh start
France pays about 28 billion euros a year to the European Union. Europe too will have to be reduced and make a fresh start, without all these princes of Europe. France’s contribution will be renegotiated through diplomacy, on a mandate from the two chambers and from the people.
7. Repaying the debt, quickly
Every euro saved goes to repaying the debt. The objective is to reach up to 200 billion euros of repayment per year, which would make it possible to wipe out the debt in about fifteen years, four times faster than with 50 billion a year. As the debt falls, interest falls too, and the money thus freed speeds up repayment even more. The detailed budget will be calculated and published with the two chambers.
8. The people decide
These proposals are a starting point. Like everything else, they will be decided by referendum.
Liberty – Equality – Truth.
Thank you for your comments.
Sources: INSEE (2025 accounts), 2026 finance law, Senate reports on public authorities, debt service and State agencies (2025).
Contact: jacques.rouchaud@me.com
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