'Spain has managed to bring its public finances under control. France has not.' - Le Monde.fr

C ut public spending, raise taxes or both? While France faces a harsh dilemma reminiscent of Scylla and Charybdis as it tries to restore its public finances, Spain appears to have found a magic formula called economic growth. The Bank of Spain announced on Thursday, September 17, that the country's public debt-to-GDP ratio – a key indicator of national debt – fell below the 100% mark in July for the first time since 2020. "The total debt of all public administrations stood at 99.9% of GDP in July 2026, 2.4 percentage points lower than at the same time last year," the Spanish central bank stated. This ratio had peaked at 124.2% in March 2021. In France, the ratio of public debt to annual national output reached 117.