French PM Barnier flags tax hike on the wealthy

(Adds details on pension reform, immigration, in paragraphs 5,6)

By Mathieu Rosemain

PARIS, Sept 22 (Reuters) - French Prime Minister Michel Barnier said on Sunday that he would not raise taxes on most French taxpayers, although the wealthiest would have to help close a hole in the budget.

President Emmanuel Macron's office this weekend unveiled a new government that aims to strike a fine balance between right-wingers and centrists and which he hopes will break the political deadlock that followed a summer snap election.

Its most immediate and daunting task will be to put together a budget for 2025 at a time France is struggling to contain a

spiralling budget deficit

.

"I'm not going to further increase taxes on all French people, neither on the most modest, nor on people who work, nor on the middle classes. But I cannot exclude the wealthiest from the national effort to rectify the situation," Barnier told France 2 television.

Barnier, who was the European Union's lead negotiator during Britain's Brexit negotiations, also said he was also open to changes to Macron's pension reform but that any changes should not undermine the pension system's finances.

He said by way of example that he wanted to better take into account the hardships faced by working mothers over the course of long careers and that he was open to the input of employers and unions.

Barnier also pledged pragmatic measures to limit immigration.

"We need a European response. We need to take action at home too," Barnier said. "We need to deal with the immigration issue much more rigorously." (Reporting by Mathieu Rosemain and Leigh Thomas; editing by Richard Lough)