"Catastrophe, "bloodletting": opposition stands firm against François Bayrou's budgetary roadmap

A chorus of discontent erupted following François Bayrou's presentation of the government's budgetary guidelines on Tuesday, July 15. The Prime Minister announced several cost-cutting and debt-reduction measures, including a year-long cut in social spending, five billion in healthcare savings, and the elimination of two public holidays.

The National Rally (RN) has stated through its president, Jordan Bardella, that " no RN MP will accept this measure ," which he describes as a "provocation." According to him, it is "a direct attack on our history, our roots, and the France of work."

"This government prefers to attack the French people, workers and retirees, rather than hunt down waste," denounced Marine Le Pen, pointing out that "no savings" have been announced "on the cost of immigration," for example. "Stop the carnage. Let's censor," tweeted Laure Lavalette.

Thomas Ménagé, the National Rally MP for Loiret, has already given François Bayrou's government a "date in October," hinting at a possible no-confidence vote in early autumn. That is when budget discussions will begin in Parliament.

Their ally, UDR MP Éric Ciotti, considered in a tweet on X that "François Bayrou is crossing all lines," citing "non-reimbursement of medicines, tax increases, de-indexation of pensions."

Éric Coquerel, LFI MP and chairman of the National Assembly's Finance Committee, attended François Bayrou's press conference. For the parliamentarian, "those who are called upon to pay the deficits and debt, due mainly to the decline in revenue and the tax breaks given to the wealthiest since 2017, are the working world, the sick, employees, the unemployed, and retirees. It's a social and economic catastrophe," he declared.

Manuel Bompard, coordinator of La France Insoumise and Marseille MP, posted a long tweet on X, denouncing "a veritable bloodletting of unprecedented brutality against the people" and threatening censorship. "We will censor it, and all those who refuse to do so will be complicit. And we call for everyone to mobilize to oppose it."

Initially, Marine Tondelier, national secretary of Europe Écologie Les Verts, expressed her outrage at the cancellation of the May 8 celebration commemorating the victory over Nazism. "How exactly are we to understand this?" she asked, before questioning the victims who will have to "pay the price for Macron's mess." She continued: "Who should pay the price? Public services, healthcare, pensions, workers, and the environment, of course. Shameful."

Among the Socialists, First Secretary Olivier Faure deplored "the violence of the measures, the accumulation of which will hit families very hard" and criticized the Prime Minister for having "spared (...) the large assets of the ultra-rich." "This is not a recovery plan, it is a plan to demolish our French model. This is not a blank year that is coming, but a black year for the French people."

For Philippe Brun, a Socialist Party MP, there will be no-confidence. "Clearly, this budget is unacceptable." That said, the parliamentarian offers the Prime Minister a lifeline. "If he wants to stay in power, he will have to significantly revise his plan and adopt the proposals we are making, particularly on tax justice," he suggested on our channel.

Fabien Roussel, National Secretary of the French Communist Party, described "an organized robbery," listing the elimination of two public holidays "to make us work for free," "reducing reimbursement for serious illnesses, freezing wages and pensions. More than ever, there are new Bastilles to be taken!"

Deputy spokesman for the Republicans, Jonas Haddad, tempered these criticisms on the BFMTV set and offered only one criticism. "There was not a word about immigration, whereas by definition, and this has been demonstrated in all the surveys, people who are immigrants in France, even legally, work less than people who are present on the national territory, and who are French. There was indeed not a word about that," he lamented.