Three months after their defeat in the parliamentary elections, France’s hard-right National Rally party officially kicked off a new political campaign on October 6, under the slogan “Until Victory”.
The party is anticipating early elections as it positions itself as the alternative to the current government.
“There will be elections in less than a year,” declared Marine Le Pen, though did not clarify what kind.
She emphasised that France faces major national challenges, and argued that the current government, led by Prime Minister Michel Barnier, lacks the democratic legitimacy required to address effectively these issues.
“France needs a government with strong democratic legitimacy to face the major challenges affecting our nation. The current government cannot respond to these challenges because it has extremely weak democratic legitimacy,” Le Pen said.
She highlighted that Barnier, the Prime Minister enjoys little support in the National Assembly.
“One only has to look at the reception given to Michel Barnier during his general policy speech. I believe no prime minister in the history of the assembly has ever received so little support at the end of such an exercise,” she said.
As the government prepares to disclose its 2025 budget, Le Pen expressed doubts that the government have learned from previous setbacks.
“Today we are waiting for the government to finally unveil the budget for next year, but I have the feeling that no lessons have been learned,” she said.
French Prime Minister Michel Barnier has delivered a make-or-break general policy speech, outlining his plans for dealing with a national debt of €3,228 billion, controlling immigration, access to public services and the standard of living of the French. https://t.co/FsyDojUKm0
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) October 2, 2024
According to Le Pen, the government is ignoring the clear message sent by the French in the June parliamentary elections that they are dissatisfied with the EU’s treatment of their country.
Both the left-wing coalition and National Rally — collectively around two-thirds of the national assembly — had expressed criticism of the European Union in the run-up to the election, with each side demanding the rejection of austerity measures imposed by the EU.
“It is indeed the French people who must decide the policy they wish to see implemented, and certainly not the technocrats of Brussels, who in the past imposed austerity policies on Greece and Cyprus following budgetary crises,” she warned.
