France proposing merging, scrapping third of gov't agencies by end-year

PARIS (Reuters) -The French government will propose combining or eliminating a third of government agencies by the end of the year in a bid to save money, the public accounts minister said on Sunday.

"We will, by the end of the year, propose in the budget that a third of state-backed agencies and operators that are not universities are merged or eliminated," Amelie de Montchalin, the public accounts minister, said in an interview with French broadcaster CNews/Europe 1.

Doing so would save two to three billion euros, she said.

Prime Minister Francois Bayrou's government has sought to cut the public sector budget deficit from 5.4% of economic output this year to 3%, the European Union's ceiling, in 2029.

Finance Minister Eric Lombard has said the government will seek to cut 40 billion euros in spending in the next fiscal year.

(Reporting by Makini Brice; editing by David Evans)