GDP does not measure everything that matters. But without wealth creation, almost everything that matters becomes harder to achieve.
A country cannot be reduced to an economic statistic. Education, public safety, trust, cultural vitality, national cohesion, beautiful landscapes, individual freedom and the ability to build a meaningful life cannot be captured by GDP alone.
But acknowledging the limits of GDP should never become an excuse to dismiss economic growth.
Growth means businesses expanding, people finding jobs, entrepreneurs taking risks, workers becoming more productive, scientists developing new technologies and companies investing for the future. It creates the resources that allow a nation to finance education, justice, defence, infrastructure and environmental protection.
Prosperity does not guarantee happiness.
But poverty dramatically reduces our choices.
Wealth must be created before it can be shared
Every debate about prosperity should begin with an elementary truth: before wealth can be distributed, it has to be created.
An entrepreneur who builds a company creates value. An employee who improves their skills creates value. An artisan who develops a new product creates value. A researcher who invents a technology creates value. A company that successfully exports creates value.
These activities should not be regarded with suspicion.
They should be encouraged.
A prosperous society is built upon individual initiative, private enterprise, work, merit, investment and innovation.
Freedom is therefore not merely a philosophical principle. It is one of the foundations of prosperity.
When individuals are free to create, invest, work, trade and innovate, millions of independent decisions generate opportunities that no central administration could possibly plan.
But freedom also comes with responsibility.
A free society cannot function if individuals systematically expect the state to make every decision, assume every risk and solve every problem.
Responsibility is the necessary counterpart of freedom.
A strong state does not have to be an oversized state
Economic freedom does not mean rejecting the state.
A liberal society needs a strong state precisely where public authority is indispensable.
The state must guarantee justice. It must protect citizens. It must defend the nation. It must enforce the rule of law and provide a stable framework within which individuals and businesses can plan for the future.
But the strength of a state should not be measured by the number of regulations it produces, the complexity of its bureaucracy or the percentage of national wealth it spends.
Public performance matters.
Every euro spent by government was first earned or created somewhere in society. Citizens are therefore entitled to demand that public money be used efficiently.
Fighting bureaucracy is not hostility towards public services.
It is a way of protecting them.
A state focused on its essential missions can be both stronger and more efficient than one attempting to control every aspect of economic and social life.
Innovation is not the enemy
We must also recover our confidence in progress.
Scientific, industrial and technological innovation should not automatically be regarded as threats requiring another layer of regulation.
They are among humanity’s most powerful tools for solving problems.
Climate change provides a perfect example.
The choice should not simply be between consuming as before and accepting economic decline. Innovation can allow us to produce more efficiently, use fewer resources, develop cleaner energy and invent technologies capable of reconciling prosperity with environmental responsibility.
The same principle applies to artificial intelligence, biotechnology, energy, manufacturing and digital technologies.
France and Europe have extraordinary scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs, creators and skilled workers.
Our challenge is not a shortage of talent.
It is our ability to create an environment in which that talent can flourish.
Prosperity is a matter of sovereignty
There is also a strategic dimension to wealth creation.
A country that progressively stops producing eventually becomes dependent on countries that still do.
Industry therefore matters.
Energy matters.
Science matters.
Technology matters.
Agriculture matters.
Digital sovereignty matters.
Economic strength gives a nation the ability to make independent political choices.
France should therefore rebuild its industrial, scientific and technological ambitions while working towards a reformed Europe capable of acting as a force multiplier for its member states.
Sovereignty does not require economic isolation.
It requires the capacity to remain free.
Growth must serve human beings
None of this means that GDP should become our only compass.
Economic activity can create negative externalities. Natural resources can be depleted. Public debt can artificially sustain consumption today at the expense of future generations. Growth can coexist with serious social problems.
We should measure these things.
We should address them.
But recognising the imperfections of GDP is very different from rejecting growth itself.
The right objective is better growth: productive, innovative and sustainable growth that expands individual opportunities while preserving what previous generations have entrusted to us.
Our natural heritage matters.
Our landscapes matter.
Our culture matters.
Our historical continuity matters.
Our ability to pass them on to future generations matters.
Economic prosperity gives us more — not fewer — resources with which to protect them.
Prosperity expands freedom
The fundamental question is therefore not whether GDP measures happiness.
It does not.
The better question is what kind of society gives people the greatest opportunity to pursue happiness for themselves.
A society based on freedom, responsibility, work, merit, private initiative and innovation gives individuals considerably more power over their own lives.
A productive economy also provides the resources required for effective public services and a state capable of fulfilling its essential responsibilities.
There is no contradiction between economic freedom and national strength.
There is no contradiction between innovation and environmental responsibility.
There is no contradiction between private initiative and an effective state.
And there should be no contradiction between creating wealth today and preserving our country for tomorrow.
France has everything it needs to become prosperous again: talent, infrastructure, culture, scientific expertise, entrepreneurs, workers and an extraordinary capacity for creativity.
What it needs above all is confidence in those who create.
GDP will never measure everything that makes a civilisation worth defending.
But a France that works, produces, invents, invests and takes responsibility for its future will be far better equipped to protect its culture, guarantee its independence and offer the next generation opportunities greater than our own.
Wealth creation is not the purpose of civilisation. It is one of the most powerful means we have to give free people the ability to build one.
