The programs of the New Popular Front and the National Rally “pose a very great danger” to the French economy and are “totally unrealistic”, said Emmanuel Macron on Friday on the sidelines of a trip to Bari in Italy for the G7. “There are today two extreme blocs which have chosen economic programs which are not within the framework of an ethic of responsibility and which promise people gifts which are unfunded,” declared the leader of the State 16 days before the early legislative elections.
“Just not serious”
Reacting to a week of strong turbulence for France on the financial markets – the Paris stock market experienced its worst week since March 2022 – Mr. Macron noted that there was “a period of uncertainty which is linked to this election”. “It kind of gives you a taste of what the advent of totally unrealistic economic programs would actually be like,” he assured. According to him, the projects of the left alliance or the National Rally “cost between 100 and 400 billion euros per year”.
Presented on Friday, the program of the New Popular Front undertakes, among other things, to increase the minimum wage, block the prices of essential goods, revive the ISF or even set a retirement objective at 60 years old. “These are programs which either have no political honesty, or which pose a very great danger, not only to the French economy and its interest rates, but I believe to our compatriots, taxpayers, savers “, insisted the head of state, judging that these parties “are not ready to govern” and that they are “just not serious”. Returning to the conflict in Ukraine or Gaza, Emmanuel Macron also mocked the internal differences on the left which he describes as “a spectacle of great inconsistency”: everyone “thinks the opposite” of the other, “we are among the crazy, this is not serious”.
Emmanuel Macron also once again refused to reveal what his instructions would be in the event of a second round between the New Popular Front and the National Rally. “I will be clear on this question”, “but it is a debate on the programs today in the country”, he evacuated.