Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said on Tuesday it was time to end France's addiction to easy public spending, promising to cut expenditures over the next five years and rein in debts he said were at an unacceptable level. New president Emmanuel Macron regards taming spending and reducing its budget deficit as key to winning the trust of European Union partner Germany and persuading Berlin to embark on reforms to shore up the bloc. "The French are hooked on public spending. Like all addictions it doesn't solve any of the problems it is meant to ease. And like all addictions it requires willpower and courage to detox," Philippe told the National Assembly to applause. Philippe said that for every 100 euros Germany raised in taxes it spent 98 euros, while France spent 125 euros for every 117 euros levied in taxes. "Who really believes this situation is sustainable?" The government and its programme comfortably won a vote of confidence. The lower house, dominated by Macron's Republic on the Move party, voted 370 in favour of the government with only 67 voting against - mostly far-left and far-right lawmakers. Some 129 people abstained, with a large number of conservatives from the Republicans party not opposing the government. In total, 566 lawmakers voted. Philippe's talk of austerity comes just as other major economies such as Germany, the United States and even Britain are signalling an easing of fiscal policy to underpin growth. But last week France's independent auditor revealed a more than 8 billion euro funding shortfall in this year's budget, forecasting a deficit once again above the EU cap of 3 percent of national income.
