PARIS – Marine Le Pen, the leader of the far-right National Rally (RN) in France, has unveiled an economic program centered on rapid fiscal consolidation — more commonly known as austerity. In doing so, she has broken sharply with her own party’s past and aligned herself more closely with a longstanding trend on the European right.
The RN’s move comes just as France is being rocked by protests, with its government struggling to pass a budget for lack of a parliamentary majority. Public debt stands at 119% of gross domestic product, compared to 102% in Britain and 63% in Germany, and the deficit is expected to reach 5.4% of GDP in 2026 — well above the European Union’s 3% ceiling. To bring it down to 5% in 2027, the government has announced �54 billion ($60 billion) in deeply unpopular budget cuts.
But Le Pen wants to take austerity further. She is proposing that France mimic Germany’s “debt brake” (a legal restriction on the size of budget deficits) by enshrining a “golden rule” in the French constitution. Crucially, such an amendment would have to be approved by referendum. Suspending it for one year would require 60% support in parliament, and doing so for a second year would require another referendum. Thus, Le Pen has offered a populist vision of fiscal consolidation.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.