PARIS (Reuters) – French far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen on Thursday pledged to be tough on financial markets but said her economic programme was “serious” as polls showed her campaign gaining momentum ahead of Sunday’s first round of voting.
Asked about business fears linked to the prospect of her being elected, Le Pen scoffed on RTL radio at what she called “doom-mongering” that there will be serious economic consequences if incumbent Emmanuel Macron is not re-elected.
Centrist Macron is still ahead in opinion polls but Le Pen has been closing the gap, and a poll on Monday put his victory within the margin of error, unnerving investors.
France’s borrowing costs rose on Wednesday on concerns about the election, with the 5-year yield near its highest since 2014, and the 30-year yield was close to its highest since 2019, before dipping again on Thursday.
“The programme I am defending is serious,” she said, promising to “give the French back their money” by lowering taxes and hiking social spending.
This would be financed mainly by “fighting fiscal fraud, (and) fighting illegal immigration which costs our country a lot,” she said. “I won’t hand the future of the country into the hands of international finance.”
The pro-business Institut Montaigne think-tank has said Le Pen’s programme, which includes lowering the retirement age to 60 and reducing taxes on energy, could come in at an extra cost 75% higher than estimated by Le Pen herself.
France’s already strained budget deficit could rise by an additional 102 billion euros ($111 billion), resulting in a debt-to-gross domestic product ratio of 7.1% in 2027, according to the think-tank.
($1 = 0.9163 euros)
(Reporting by Tassilo Hummel; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell)
