Jordan Bardella’s economic program deciphered

Six days before the first round of the legislative elections, the RN presented its detailed program on Monday. According to the president of the National Rally (RN), Jordan Bardella, the party “is ready to govern”.

His program is presented in two stages, the first concerns the time of emergencies, until the fall, before switching to that of reforms. His speech, which was very focused on the economy, made it possible to provide several clarifications of his positions.

Faced with criticism of his positions, not always clear, in recent weeks, Jordan Bardella “clarifies” its project on retirement age. His priority concerns long careers. For these workers who often have difficult jobs, he promises to act quickly: “As of the fall, those who started working before the age of 20 and who have 40 years of service could leave at age 60.” This proposal is in reality very close to the existing system.

For other future retirees, the candidate for Matignon ensures that the RN wishes to repeal Emmanuel Macron’s pension reform. He judges this reform “socially unjust and economically inefficient“. He therefore intends to gradually reduce the legal age of departure to 62 years, instead of 64. But, the implementation timetable will depend on the audit of public finances, desired by the RN if it wins the elections.

Without waiting for the conclusions of the audit, Jordan Bardella promises rapid measures, particularly on purchasing power, which he lists as the main priority. The RN’s objective is to reduce energy bills, starting this summer, thanks to a corrective finance bill.

Jordan Bardella promises a reduction in VAT on electricity, gas, fuel oil and fuels: it would go from 20% today to 5.5%. According to the president of the RN, this measure would cost seven billion euros by the end of the year (2024), then around 12 billion per year.

In recent months, the far-right party also promised to eliminate VAT on around a hundred essential products, mainly food. But, it’s not for now. The program published today by the party specifies, it would be “in the event of high inflation“.

Finally, to provoke salary increases, for those who earn up to three times the minimum wage, the National Rally proposes to exempt companies from employer contributions, on this increase, for 3 to 5 years.

Jordan Bardella does not provide overall funding for his government program. It refers once again to the audit of the nation’s accounts. This magazine “line to line” which must show according to the latter “how Emmanuel Macron organized the quasi-bankruptcy of the accounts”.

The president of the RN is already identifying expenditure items to be crossed out to save money. He first wants to eliminate certain costly tax loopholes and “stop what promotes legal or illegal immigration“. The RN program thus plans to reserve social assistance for French citizens.