12 days before the early legislative elections, the three large blocs, New Popular Front on the left, presidential camp and National Rally present and refine their programs day after day. Unsurprisingly, purchasing power, the primary concern of the French, dominates the debates.
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“Purchasing power” has the advantage of speaking to everyone. A very concrete theme, it makes it possible to come up with precise proposals in an extremely short time to prepare the programs.
In the RN, reduced VAT on gasoline and electricity
This is the flagship measure of the National Rally: the reduction of VAT from 20 to 5.5% on energy and fuel.
The financing, however, remains quite unclear. The president of the RN, Jordan Bardellaevokes the elimination of certain tax loopholes such as for shipowners to offset the shortfall for the State.
For the most radical, but also costly, measures proposed during the last presidential election. They are still proposed, but would be implemented at a later date. Like the pure and simple abolition of VAT on basic necessities or the repeal of the latest pension reform pushing back the retirement age to 64 years.
The far-right party, favorite in the polls, is trying to gain credibility with hesitant voters, but also with financial markets already worried since the dissolution.
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On the left, the New Popular Front attacks wages
The left’s program promises global indexation to inflation and above all to increase the minimum wage to 2,000 euros gross compared to 1,700 today. Another shock measure: the introduction of price freezes for essential goods (food, energy, fuel)
Financing would be based on new taxes above 4,000 euros of income, a tax on superprofits or even the reestablishment of the wealth tax. “The costing will be clarified in the coming days,” we repeat extensively in the ranks of the left.
The program of the New Popular Front also provides for the urgent repeal of the pension reform. The starting age will go back from 64 to 60 within 15 days of taking power.
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The presidential camp does a “bit of both” with very limited ambitions
The Prime Minister Gabriel Attal promises a 15% drop in electricity prices next winter thanks to the nuclear fleet (electricity prices increase by 11% next July) and an increase in the ceiling of the “Macron bonus” in companies passing it from 3,000 to 10,000 euros.
If the oppositions tend to go further, the outgoing power does not want to spend too much, anxious to maintain its promise not to increase taxes.
Crossfire between each camp
Very quickly after the announcement of the different programmatic orientations of the oppositions, the Ministry of Finance quantified their proposal. According to Bercy, the implementation of the RN program would cost nearly 100 billion euros per year, nearly 300 billion euros for that of the New Popular Front. Emmanuel Macron summed it up in one formula last week: “ We are among the crazy! » he said on the sidelines of the G7 in Italy.
The oppositions are riding on the unpopularity of the head of state and the government’s record. The RN places great emphasis on public finances, the 3,000 billion euros in debt and budgetary slippage for 2023. The Marine lieutenants repeat over and over that once in power, it will be necessary to take stock of the situation, implying that Bercy hides “ corpses in the cupboards “. The formula also has the advantage of saving itself from too many proposals, or even of already having a pretext if the RN’s promises are not kept.
Finally, on the left, we assume that the entire system needs to be reviewed. Macronism, a factor of social inequality, is already dead. If we must therefore vote above all for the New Popular Front, it is to counter the extreme right.
With two short weeks of campaign remaining between now and the first round (June 30), the three camps will therefore mainly strive to warn the French against the danger represented by their adversaries, rather than to convince them.
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