Legislative: grand oral presentation of party representatives in front of worried bosses

These speeches took place at a time when Prime Minister Gabriel Attal presented the majority program and called on the French to choose him as Prime Minister. He was particularly questioned about the necessity or not of campaigning with Emmanuel Macron given the animosity that the president arouses among voters.

In front of the bosses, it was former Prime Minister Edouard Philippe, for Horizons, who opened the series of hearings in the Gaveau room in Paris, by reiterating his attachment to the policy in favor of businesses deployed by the current presidential majority.

“We absolutely must not change the logic” of the “pro-business” policy implemented since 2017, he declared in front of a large audience. We must “even go further”, according to him.

He was followed by Eric Coquerel and Boris Vallaud for the New Popular Front, who defended a program accused by the executive of being expensive and by Medef, the leading employers' organization, of proposing "dangerous" measures for the economy. just like that of the National Rally.

On stage, Mr. Vallaud proposed a “new productive pact” uniting workers, captains of industry and consumers. Criticized for internal disagreements over the costing of the program, Eric Coquerel promised “something homogeneous” by the end of the week.

“Economic patriotism”

To finance it in part, Mr. Vallaud demanded in front of the numerous bosses gathered "an effort of economic patriotism" from the billionaires, "because you have benefited from our schools, because you have benefited from our public services, because you have benefited from our public subsidies and that we are in a moment of national recovery, of productive rearmament, of affirmation of our sovereignty,” he said.

On stage after the left, Jordan Bardella and Eric Ciotti appeared side by side for the first time since the announcement of their alliance - for the National Rally and its partners.

Mr. Bardella denounced the government's "budgetary unreason" and the "risk of economic collapse". He promised an audit of public accounts to restore "order" and committed to "completely" removing the CVAE, a production tax which weighs on businesses - this last measure also being defended by the majority.

In recent days, questioned about its economic program, the National Rally had seemed to hesitate on some of its announcements concerning the repeal of the pension reform and the abolition of VAT on basic necessities.

The abolition of VAT on "essential products" will wait until "the start of the school year", said Jordan Bardella at the start of the week, and the pension reform will be repealed by giving priority to "long careers", "from 'autumn".

Around Medef, several business organizations are also present on Thursday, such as the Confederation of Small and Medium Enterprises (CPME), the Union of Local Enterprises (U2P), and the Movement of Mid-Size Enterprises ( Meti).

Election promises

These hearings take place in a context where French public finances are in the red and were singled out on Wednesday by the European Commission which opened the way to procedures for excessive public deficits.

Despite this, electoral promises have multiplied since the dissolution of the National Assembly on June 9, within the left coalition, in the RN and even in the executive after recent commitments by the Prime Minister, Gabriel Attal, in favor purchasing power.

The Minister of the Economy, Bruno Le Maire, however warned: "France's budgetary room for maneuver is zero", he launched, qualifying the programs of the union of the left and the Rassemblement national "delusional programs and out of step with the situation of public finances".

“At some point, we have to save and restore the accounts, as we have started to do,” he added, once again excluding any tax increase.

LEGISLATIVE HEARINGS 2024 | The complete (Thursday June 20 - Salle Gaveau)