French business leaders are seeking to “court” Marine Le Pen’s National Rally (RN) party in fear of the taxation polices of a leftwing alliance, the Financial Times has claimed, as the RN say they will give French businesses preference in sourcing goods and services for the public sector, even though that would violate EU law.
A snap election has been called in France after President Macron reacted to an historic surge by right wing parties, with the National Rally, which is anti-immigration and nationalist, receiving 31% of the votes – more than double the share of Macron’s Renaissance party.
The lightening election campaign has seen an leftwing NFP alliance promising to undo Macron’s business-friendly taxation policies: undoing pension reforms, raising the minimum wage, increasing public sector salaries and benefits for those on welfare benefits, while also introducing price freezes for basic food items and energy to help households afflicted by the cost of living crisis.
The alliance says it would fund its programme through a wealth tax and increasing income tax on those in the highest income bracket.
The Financial Times says the left-wing alliance plans have caused France’s corporate bosses to ‘recoil’ and to race “to build contacts with Marine Le Pen’s far right”.
The paper spoke to senior executives and bankers who said they felt Le Pen’s party was more of a “blank slate”, open to persuasion on key issues for businesses, while the left would not budge on its “hardline” stance.
Spokesman for the RN told the FT that the party “had already begun to woo business leaders in closed-door meetings in recent months, said investment bankers in Paris and executives”.
Jean-Philippe Tanguy, an RN MP who works on economic policy, said he had been getting calls from lobbyists, investors and companies eager to understand the party’s plans.
“We’ve told them that the RN will hold the line on deficits and present a credible plan,” he said. “The markets will be severe on us, so we really have no choice but to do so.”
The RN has made the issue of overturning Macron’s pension reforms a campaign promise, and that it would give French companies preference in government procurement – sourcing goods and services for the public sector – even though this would be a violation of EU law.
France 24 said that Macron’s Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire yesterday urged business to “stick their neck out” on the programmes on offer.
He called on business groups in France – including the big companies’ federation MEDEF – should “clearly say what they think of the different parties’ economic programmes” and warn about “the cost of Marine Le Pen’s Marxist plans”.
MEDEF said in a statement that “a new campaign is starting in which we do not share certain political visions, which are incompatible with business competitiveness and prosperity for our country and fellow citizens” – but that comment has been taken as possibly applying to the left-wing alliance rather than the RN.
Meantime, many of the right-wing politicians elected to Brussels in France earlier this month are now campaigning to take seats in the next national assembly, with half of the 80 on the EU elections list running for the national parliament.
Eight of the thirty RN MEPs just elected elections are returning to the campaign trail for the snap French elections scheduled for 30 June and 7 July.