National Rally (RN) firebrand Marine Le Pen has accused Michel Barnier’s French Government of spreading “false information” about the country’s current budget stand-off.
Right-wing leader Le Pen blasted claims from senior members of the Macronist camp that, should the contentious 2025 budget be shot down in parliament, as she has threatened to do, many French citizens would be left without pay.
French MP and former prime minister Elisabeth Borne said regarding the situation: “If the budget on Social Security were censored, it means that on January 1, your health insurance card no longer works. It means that pensions are no longer paid. It means after a while that civil servants are no longer paid.”
Numerous opposition politicians have since come out to denounce the claim, arguing that there were numerous ways French legislators could prevent a US-style government “shutdown”.
“Contrary to what some members of the government and the president of the Court of Auditors claim, it is impossible, even if France does not vote on its budget, that civil servants or the interest on our debt will no longer be paid,” Le Pen said in an Op-Ed published by Le Figaro.
She accused the government of “misinforming” the public regarding the situation.
“The real risk for democracy is not the shutdown: it is fake news!” LePen added, arguing that government politicians were now trying to “scapegoat” her party over its threats to torpedo the budget.
VIDEO: France’s National Rally party will be in power by the end of next year, MEP @PhOlivierRN, who advises party grandee Marine Le Pen, tells @JustinStares. https://t.co/QGllb3CIzq
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) November 21, 2024
Le Pen was not the only politician shouting down government claims of a possible shutdown.
According to a report by Le Monde, French Assembly President Yaël Braun-Pivet — an MP within President Emmanuel Macron’s Renaissance party — insisted there would be no “foretold catastrophe” if the 2025 budget were not passed.
“The government can present to parliament what is called a ‘special law to collect taxes’ from January 1, there can be a renewal of expenditure by decree to be able to pay civil servants, retirees, etc,” she said.
While Braun-Pivet added that a rejection of the budget would cause instability, she insisted protections within the French Constitution protected against any “American-style shutdown”.
“It creates political instability and that must worry everyone, but we must not have too catastrophic a vision,” the MP said.
“I do not want to worry our compatriots. We have solutions anyway, we are responsible.”
The European Parliament group Patriots for Europe have convened their first summit in Brussels, bringing together key political figures such as Geert Wilders, Marine Le Pen, Viktor Orbán, Jordan Bardella and Matteo Salvini. https://t.co/1sySnSS9eh
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) October 17, 2024
