French Business Body Slams Le Pen, Left as Danger to Economy
(Bloomberg) -- The head of France’s Medef business lobby criticized the campaign programs of both the far right and an alliance of leftist parties, saying they are a danger to the economy.
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Marine Le Pen’s National Rally would cut the country off from the European Union, Patrick Martin told Le Figaro newspaper. He also slammed the party’s plans to reverse President Emmanuel Macron’s reforms of unemployment insurance and pensions, and slash the value added tax.
The policies of the New Popular Front, which groups Socialists, Communists, Greens and the far-left France Unbowed, would lead to €200 billion ($215 billion) in extra public spending a year, meanwhile, financed by taxes or the deficit, he added.
“The National Rally’s program is dangerous for the French economy, growth and jobs; that of the New Popular Front is just as dangerous, if not more,” Martin said. “It’s staggering that the international economic situation is taken so little into account in the programs, as if France was a small island cut off from the world.”
The comments come a day before Medef is due to grill the main political groups on their election pledges as the focus of the campaign turns to business and the economy with only 10 days until the first round of the snap vote.
In the week following Macron’s surprise decision to dissolve parliament on June 9, a market selloff wiped $258 billion from the market capitalization of French companies, while the extra yield investors demand to hold French debt over German peers surged. Paris has also lost its crown as Europe’s biggest equity market to London.
Martin, who said he was “astonished” by Macron’s decision, said he fears a debt crisis.
“We saw how the financial markets reacted strongly after the dissolution was announced,” he said. “They’ll probably react even more strongly if all these measures are put in place.”
Valerie Rabault, a Socialist candidate and former budget recorder, told Les Echos newspaper in an interview published Wednesday that she estimates the New Popular Front’s program would lead to new spending of €106 billion ($114 billion) through 2027.
Meloni Contrast
National Rally head Jordan Bardella has said he plans to take a responsible approach to economic policy, saying his first move as premier would be to conduct an independent audit of public finances that would determine the capacity for economic reforms and an overhaul of public services.
Asked whether the National Rally may copy Italy’s Giorgia Meloni if it wins power and not implement its economic program, Martin said the party would have to change course through 180 degrees for the comparison to be pertinent.
“Meloni is liberal economy-wise — I don’t think, for example, that she would have proposed reversing the pension reform — and she’s much less anti-European than the National Rally,” Martin said.
On Thursday morning, business leaders will have the chance to hear from Bardella, as well as representatives from the New Popular Front, Horizons and the conservative Republicans, as well as Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire. Each will set out their pitch before fielding questions.
Polls show the National Rally is likely to get the largest share of the first-round vote, followed by the leftist alliance, with Macron’s party and allies third. However, France’s two-round voting system means it’s hard to predict who will ultimately get the most seats in the National Assembly.
(Updates with comments from Medef head starting in seventh paragraph.)
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