MADRID 28 Nov. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Prime Minister of France, Michel Barnier, has agreed to remove from the Budget project a measure to increase taxes on electricity, one of the several requirements that the far-right had demanded of him in order not to overthrow his Government in December through a motion of censure. .
“I have decided that we will not increase taxes on electricity in the 2025 finance bill,” confirmed Barnier, in an interview with ‘Le Figaro’ in which he assured that, with these changes, supply prices will drop. around 14 percent.
The prime minister has claimed that with this change he is responding to the misgivings that several parties had already expressed, although this was precisely one of the main demands that the leader of the National Rally in Parliament, Marine Le Pen, conveyed to him in person this week. .
In fact, the far-right party was quick to claim victory and celebrate that “Barnier is turning back,” as spokesperson Laure Lavalette noted on social media. “Marine Le Pen will not let anyone attack the working French people,” he warned.
The Minister of Economy, Antoine Armand, acknowledged this Thursday in an interview with the BFMTV network that the Government was willing to make “concessions” to solve an “extremely serious” situation, in which the Executive is hanging by a thread by not having a consolidated majority in the National Assembly.
Parliamentary arithmetic is not on its side and the Government has even speculated on resorting again to article 49.3 of the constitution to carry out the public accounts, a way that allows it to avoid the vote but that opens the door to a motion of censure.
The left-wing New Popular Front has already made it clear that it will try to overthrow the Executive and Le Pen is considering this possibility, as she herself said after leaving her meeting with Barnier on Monday. The “red lines” of the extreme right also include measures to support farmers or tougher proposals on immigration matters.