BancaMarch: Michel Barnier, Prime Minister of France, is abandoning plans to increase electricity taxes in the 2025 budget. This decision, which would be a concession to the demands of Le Pen’s party, is not enough.
The Rassemblement Nationale has the bargaining power to make the government meet its demands, since its vote would be decisive in the event of a no-confidence motion. Yesterday Barnier struck an appeasing tone, declaring that he is prepared to make certain concessions and warned that failure to approve the budget would lead to turbulence on the financial markets.
Le Pen’s party is also calling for pensions to be indexed to inflation on 1 January and for corporate social security contributions to be restructured. Next Monday is a decisive day for France: the parliament’s decision on the financing of social security in 2025 will be announced. In case it is rejected, the government will be forced to deploy a forced approval without parliament, through article 49.3 of the constitution. As Le Pen indicated yesterday, she will vote in favour of the no-confidence motion if this route is applied.
