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The ministers for the economy and public accounts have launched a blistering attack on the budget proposal put forward by Marine Le Pen, leader of the National Rally (RN) and favourite in the polls for the 2027 presidential election.
“You’re dreaming in colour”
“You’re dreaming in colour,” blasts Economy Minister Roland Lescure. “It’s a Potemkin budget, made of cardboard,” says Public Accounts Minister David Amiel.
“140 billion in savings by 2032”
Marine Le Pen is putting forward a programme of “€140 billion in savings by 2032”, bringing the public deficit down below 3% by 2030 (compared with around 5.4% expected in 2026), and cutting France’s debt to 112% of GDP, from 119% today, all while reducing taxes by €30 billion.
The RN calculates the amount of savings it is promising on the basis of immigration reforms, a cut in France’s contribution to the EU and lower spending by local authorities.
Pensions
Marine Le Pen nonetheless wants to lower the retirement age back to 62, or even 60, compared with 64 at present. According to the RN leader, a return to 60 would be possible thanks to “a major reform of individual and collective capital-funded schemes.”
Yes, ‘we do dream in colour’
Yes, “we do dream in colour, it is France’s rebirth with Marine Le Pen,” claims RN MP Jean-Philippe Tanguy.
The government notes that the RN is building its budget plans on a forecast growth rate of 1.8%. “That is well above what all serious French and international economists are projecting,” Roland Lescure fires back.
‘Golden rule’
The RN wants to enshrine a constitutional “golden rule” forcing governments to reduce public debt every year.
For Roland Lescure, it is not enough “to write a text into the Constitution for the savings to follow.”
The minister points to the €9 billion in savings the RN says it would make by cutting France’s contribution to the EU. “That would need to be approved by our 26 partners,” he notes, and “that is far from certain.” And even if it were, Roland Lescure says, those hit first would be “French farmers, the main beneficiaries of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), French companies that receive subsidies, and French research laboratories funded by European research programmes.”
Moreover, according to Roland Lescure, the €15 billion in savings the RN claims it can make on immigration would come from “measures that are for the most part unconstitutional (…), slapdash measures cobbled together on the hoof.”
‘Major structural reform’ of environmental policy
Marine Le Pen also wants to “end loss-making subsidies for intermittent energy sources” and promises “a major structural reform” of “environmental and energy policy”. Her ambition is to reach “carbon neutrality before 2050.”
‘A Potemkin budget’
For Public Accounts Minister David Amiel, the RN’s proposal is “a Potemkin budget, all cardboard and paint.”