(Paris) The parties involved in the lightning campaign for the French legislative elections are trying on Thursday to convince worried bosses of a radical change in economic direction following the elections, which continue to be shrouded in controversy over anti-Semitism.
As the vote on June 30 and July 7 approaches, the possible coming to power of the National Rally (RN, far right) or the left-wing coalition of the New Popular Front is causing business circles to fear a decline in the country, whose accounts public are already in the red.
The European Commission invited itself into the debate on Wednesday by opening the way to procedures for excessive public deficits against several Member States, including France, which is among the worst performers in the Union and whose solvency rating has been lowered at the end of May by the S agency
Weakened by its debacle at the European elections of June 9, the presidential camp opened this grand economic oral by calling not to change the “pro-business” policy implemented since Emmanuel Macron came to power in 2017, and to further curb public spending.
“We will not be able to be competitive with this level of debt and with this dependence on public spending,” Emmanuel Macron’s former prime minister, Edouard Philippe, told organizations of large and small businesses in Paris.
Bringing together social democrats, communists and the radical left, the New Popular Front defended a completely different approach, advocating an increase in the minimum wage and the reestablishment of a wealth tax removed by Emmanuel Macron at the start of his first term. .
“You can raise your hands, billionaires, and I will apologize to you for the effort I am asking of you for solidarity and economic patriotism,” launched the leader of the socialist deputies Boris Vallaud.
A big favorite in the legislative elections, RN President Jordan Bardella blamed the government’s “budgetary unreason” and the “risk of economic decline” in the event of the status quo following the elections. His party promises in particular to reduce France’s contribution to the European Union budget by two billion euros, its opponents believing that such a measure would ultimately lead to a “Frexit”.
On the eve of these hearings, the employers’ organization Medef, which represents large companies, had described the economic proposals of the RN and the left-wing coalition as “dangerous” for the French economy.
“If these programs materialize in 2024 or after”, they would cause “tax increases, […] the departure of foreign investors and massive business bankruptcies, therefore job destruction”, estimated the organization .
Since the shock dissolution of the National Assembly by Emmanuel Macron on the evening of June 9, electoral promises have multiplied, including within the presidential camp which announced new measures in favor of purchasing power, a central concern of voters according to opinion surveys.
The shock wave caused by the gang rape of a 12-year-old Jewish girl on Saturday in a suburb near Paris also continues to fuel criticism against La France insoumise (LFI, radical left), the main force in the coalition. of the Popular Front.
Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, who is leading the presidential camp’s campaign, on Thursday ordered political leaders to “put up barriers” in the face of the rise in anti-Semitism and to “refuse to trivialize (it)”, targeting the leader of LFI Jean-Luc Mélenchon.
The latter had judged anti-Semitism in France to be “residual” while figures show a surge in anti-Jewish acts since the deadly Hamas attack in Israel on October 7 and the start of the devastating war in Gaza.
France has both the largest Jewish community and one of the largest Muslim communities in Europe.
“When we say, as was the case for Jean-Luc Mélenchon, that anti-Semitism is, I quote, “residual” in our country while it […] has exploded, […] obviously we let a speech, a hatred, is becoming commonplace in public debate,” said the Prime Minister.
One of the media figures of the Popular Front, the ecologist Sandrine Rousseau, on Thursday rejected any “structural anti-Semitism” at LFI.
