by Jack Diffley
As France’s new prime minister seeks consensus on the 2026 budget, Marine Le Pen seizes the moment to attack President Macron and position herself as the only true alternative
With the French government entering tense negotiations over the 2026 budget, Marine Le Pen wasted no time turning up the pressure on President Emmanuel Macron and his newly appointed prime minister, Sébastien Lecornu. Speaking at a packed rally in Bordeaux on Sunday, the far-right National Rally (RN) leader unleashed a broadside against the current administration, accusing Macron of pushing France toward institutional paralysis.
“The country is blocked by two forces,” Le Pen told supporters. “On one hand, a president who organizes institutional paralysis; on the other, France Unbowed, trying to bring the country to a standstill with hooded petits bourgeois burning trash cans.”
The event — part rally, part political warning shot — came as Prime Minister Lecornu begins difficult talks with centrist and moderate opposition parties in an effort to pass a budget and curb France’s ballooning deficit. Le Pen, however, is making clear that she has no intention of smoothing the path for the government. Instead, she is capitalizing on widespread political fatigue to present her party as the only alternative to what she portrays as a discredited elite.
Her former partner and RN heavyweight Louis Aliot warmed up the crowd with a fiery defense of free speech, blaming the far left for recent unrest and paying tribute to slain American conservative figure Charlie Kirk, drawing loud applause.
Le Pen’s speech shifted the focus from immigration and the EU — issues often delegated to RN president Jordan Bardella — to France’s economic woes and its fading international clout. She accused Macron of manipulating the system by appointing his third prime minister in just over a year, despite historically low approval ratings and a weakened parliamentary majority.
“Macron has confiscated the ball to try and stop the game,” she said, renewing her call for snap elections.
Bardella, taking the stage later, reinforced the party’s uncompromising stance: “The National Rally is not up for sale to the highest Macronist bidder, unlike Les Républicains and the Socialists.” He also mocked efforts by Macron’s camp to form a coalition with moderate left-wing forces, a move seen by the RN as further evidence of elite collusion.
Lecornu, for his part, has tried to calm the waters, giving interviews over the weekend in which he extended a hand to moderate forces while explicitly ruling out any deal with Le Pen’s party. But that, for RN strategists, is exactly the scenario they hope for — a “mutual kiss of death” between Macron’s centrists and the weakened Socialists that reinforces their outsider narrative.
Though Le Pen stopped short of demanding Macron’s resignation, the chant “Macron, démission!” rang out in the Bordeaux crowd, echoing calls from senior RN figures urging the president to step down — something Macron has flatly rejected.
Le Pen faces her own challenges. She is currently barred from running for office due to an embezzlement conviction she is appealing in January. Yet she was defiant on Sunday, reaffirming her leadership and vowing to stay in the political fight.
“I am a determined, stubborn, combative woman,” she told the crowd. “And I am not going to apologize for it.”
With local elections approaching in March, Le Pen is clearly setting the stage for a broader campaign — one that could see her party push even harder against an increasingly fragile centrist coalition.
(Associated Medias) – all rights reserved
L’articolo Le Pen Tightens Grip on Macron as Budget Showdown Looms proviene da Associated Medias.
