It’s a crisis that’s been waiting to happen, but has been delayed until now by the protracted procedural bargaining over the 2025 budget.
Shortly after taking office in September, he proposed a budget that promised to cut the deficit by 60 billion euros (£49 billion) – needed, he said, to satisfy Brussels and get the country’s finances back on track.
But because he did not have a majority, his budget was marred by opposition amendments – from both left and right populists – that canceled taxes and introduced more spending, thus changing its essence.
After a long parliamentary showdown with the conservative-dominated Senate, Barnier came back with a new text, or, technically, texts because there’s a social security budget as well as a general budget.
But this version remains unacceptable to the opposition.
Marine Le Pen, who could have bailed out Barnier if she wanted to, has put forward a number of new demands, including scrapping a new electricity tax and reinstating fully index-linked pensions).
Barnier conceded – quite a lot, actually. But that was not enough. And now Le Pen plans to pull the plug.
Barnier and his supporters have pretty much made the only good argument – the chaos scenario.
What responsible party leader, they say, could want to steer France into the uncertainty and instability of another government crisis?
