Le Pen pledges €140 billion in net savings by 2032 if elected president

Mixed · 2Far-right leader Marine Le Pen announced on Tuesday 6 October that she would make €140 billion in net savings by 2032 compared with 2026 if she wins next year's presidential election. 1 2 Right · 1Reuters reported that this raises an earlier plan for €125 billion in savings over a five-year presidency, which Le Pen said was no longer sufficient given rising interest rates and what Le Pen called the meagre budget proposed by Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu and President Emmanuel Macron. 1 Right · 1Le Pen said most of the cuts would come in the first three years and from streamlining how government functions. 1

Mixed · 2Le Pen said the package would bring the budget deficit below the EU's 3% of GDP limit by 2030, from a forecast 5.4% this year, and called for talks with the European Central Bank to ease borrowing costs. 2 1 Centre · 1Le Pen warned that "If the French do not choose a political break, France is heading towards default," and criticised Macron's governments for failing to anticipate policies that could prevent interest payments from strangling France. 2 Mixed · 2Le Pen reaffirmed a proposal for a referendum on a constitutional budget "golden rule"; Reuters said it would require the deficit to fall by at least half a point annually until debt returns to 60% of GDP, from 119% now. 1 2

Mixed · 2Le Pen also said France would cap its net contribution to the EU budget at €5 billion, and promised pension savings of 15-20 billion euros by correcting "inefficient and unfair" measures, with fuller pension plans due in coming weeks. 1 2 Mixed · 2France 24 noted that the savings will be hard to find because Le Pen also wants to lower the retirement age to 62 or even 60, and Reuters said Le Pen plans to reverse a contested 2023 pension reform and has struggled to win over business leaders worried about euroscepticism. 2 1 Mixed · 2The announcement comes as French borrowing costs have surged to levels not seen since the early 2000s amid a global bond rout, according to Reuters; France 24 said government bond yields have soared in recent weeks and that the deficit was 5.1% of GDP last year, with 340 billion euros of borrowing planned for 2027. 1 2

Right · 1Reuters said French 10-year yields dipped briefly as Le Pen spoke and were down 11 basis points on the day at 4.75%, roughly where they were before the speech. 1 Centre · 1France 24 described Le Pen as the frontrunner, seeking to regain momentum after Jordan Bardella, the National Rally party leader, was accused of making antisemitic comments in 2013 Facebook messages, which Bardella denies and Le Pen says Le Pen still fully trusts him. 2 Right · 1Separately, Lecornu's government has proposed a 2027 budget with €43 billion of new savings, while Bardella outlined a shadow budget with €71.6 billion in savings and did not rule out backing a no-confidence motion, though an abstention remains possible. 1