France's Crisis Is Finally About to Start
Le Pen appears to have made the calculation that the political and economic mess will serve to hasten Macron’s exit and propel her to power.
Marine Le Pen is smiling now.
Photographer: STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN/AFPWhen 73-year-old center-right politician Michel Barnier was appointed French prime minister in September, few expected the man who kept the European Union united during the Brexit era to be gone by Christmas.
Yet that is now a likely prospect. Far-right leader Marine Le Pen’s vow to topple his government over a belt-tightening budget plan that is increasingly unpopular with voters is proving to be more than bluster. Despite Barnier’s offer of concessions worth billions of euros on everything from electricity taxes to reduced drug reimbursements, Le Pen’s turn of the screw has gone from gradualist to maximalist, and she now says she will back a no-confidence motion over her anti-austerity “red lines.” These red lines will now likely paralyze whoever governs next. “No French government will enjoy any policy space whatsoever until at least the autumn of next year,” Citigroup Inc. economists warned last week.