Macron Leans on a Calm Man to Manage France's Budget
Welcome to the Brussels Edition, Bloomberg's daily briefing on what matters most in the heart of the European Union.
French President Emmanuel Macron's grandstanding approach to politics spectacularly backfired a year ago when an election gamble undermined his grip on power. Yet now, in the ministry where Macron began his imperious transformation of France's economy and politics, one man is quietly refashioning the president's project into a humbler, more careful enterprise. Eric Lombard, the soft-spoken 67-year-old who took over the finance and economy department at the end of last year, is deploying tactics honed over decades advising on deals at BNP Paribas. Macron needs Lombard — and his ability to find compromise — to get a budget and about €40 billion of savings through a deeply divided parliament this year, or his government risks collapse.
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