The French Socialist Party (PS) today threatened to bring down the Government of Sébastien Lecornu if it does not make concessions in the State Budget, in particular with the creation of new taxes for the richest.
“If there are no developments by Monday, the thing is over”, warned the first secretary of the PS, Olivier Faure, in an interview with the BFMTV channel, cited by the Spanish news agency EFE.
The ultimatum comes just hours before the start, in the afternoon, of the debate in the plenary of the National Assembly on the budget proposal, which will last through Saturday and will resume on Monday.
“We demand a real correction, and if we don’t get it we will go to votes”, threatened Faure, referring to the proposal presented by Prime Minister Lecornu’s executive.
The socialist leader said that the PS intends, with its demands, to obtain “between 15,000 and 20,000 million [de euros] additional revenue” with taxes on large fortunes or large companies.
“Everything that the rich don’t pay will have to be paid by the rest,” he argued.
One of the main proposals of the socialists, and of the entire left, is the creation of the so-called “Zucman tax”, which would tax the assets of those with more than 100 million euros by 2%.
The proposal is rejected by the center and right bloc that supports Lecornu, but also by Marine Le Pen’s extreme right.
Faure insisted that it was necessary to find room to avoid the application of austerity measures contained in the budget proposal, such as freezing pensions.
He argued that the Government itself estimated the cost to the French economy of the political crisis that would be generated by the fall of the Government and the anticipation of elections at 15,000 million euros.
The estimated cost of the political crisis is the equivalent of what socialists ask for in new taxes.
Lecornu has to decide “whether he prefers stability with us (…) or a dissolution that will cost 15,000 million”, stated the socialist leader.
For Faure, there is also margin in the deficit objective, which in the budget proposal is 4.7% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2026, after the 5.4% expected in 2024.
Socialists consider that a deficit of 5% of GDP could be reached.
“We want to reduce the debt, but without suffocating the economy (…) with an acceptable effort that does not affect the popular classes and the middle classes,” said Faure.
The PS’s abstention was crucial last week for the rejection of two motions of censure against Lecornu in parliament, and the party will continue to do so so that the Government can survive in the coming months.
President Emmanuel Macron reappointed Sébastien Lecornu on October 10, four days after the prime minister resigned in the face of criticism of the composition of the executive, including from the presidential party camp.
A close collaborator of Macron, Lecornu, 39, is the fourth head of government appointed by the President in less than a year.
He succeeded François Bayrou, who was in office between December 2024 and September.