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.

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.