What could France's election mean for its economy?
Business Daily
BBC
4.4 • 816 Ratings
🗓️ 2 July 2024
⏱️ 17 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In the midst of a snap general election, we take the opportunity to look at the state of the country’s economy.
France has a huge debt burden and some business leaders are worried that the economy could worsen if Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally party get into power. The French stock market has been falling since the parliamentary election was announced - although it has recovered slightly after Sunday's result. Meanwhile the parties on the left have formed a new alliance, The New Popular Front, with radical policies like increasing tax on high earners and reducing the pension age.
Although we are fixated on the rise of the far right, the parties of the left formed a united block to fight RN and they have made gains in the first round of voting.
We hear from a solar panel manufacturer in Paris, plus a former UK Ambassador to Paris who knows President Emmanuel Macron. And economic experts in Brussels and Frankfurt discuss the EU perspective.
Presented and produced by Russell Padmore
(Image: Supporters of the far-right National Rally wave French flags at the party headquarters following voting during the first round of legislative elections on 30 June 2024)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This weekend sees the second and final round of France's general election, which could change |
| 0:07.1 | the course of the country's history, both politically and economically. |
| 0:11.4 | Hello, I'm Russell Padmore in Paris, and in Business Daily I'll examine the economic plans |
| 0:16.5 | of the main parties, notably the far-right National R or Rézamblement National RN, which secured |
| 0:24.0 | 33% of the votes in the first round and hopes to win enough in the second round to form a government. |
| 0:30.0 | We'll hear what French businesses are making of the prospect of economic reforms from either |
| 0:34.0 | a left or far-right government. |
| 0:36.1 | It seems big business may accommodate with the Rassamlement National, |
| 0:41.8 | easier than with the left and the far left. |
| 0:45.2 | A former diplomat who knows President Emmanuel Macron |
| 0:47.8 | explains why the French leader called a snap election. |
| 0:51.0 | He hates being on the back foot, reacting to events. He always likes to be in the lead, |
| 0:57.3 | taking the initiative, wrong footing adversaries. And that's what he's done this time. And he has |
| 1:02.8 | taken a gamble. And we hear about concerns from the European Union, worried that the next French |
| 1:08.1 | government could go on a spending spree, despite commitments to cut the national debts. |
| 1:13.1 | France needs to reduce its debt at the rate of between half and one percentage point of GDP per year. |
| 1:20.1 | So the promise of a fiscal spending isn't going to go down very well in Brussels. |
| 1:24.0 | That's all coming up in today's Business Daily from the BBC World Service. |
| 1:31.2 | Welcome to Paris, or as they say here in the city of light, the avenue. I'm in the area of the |
| 1:37.7 | lawns below the Eiffel Tower, watching tourists from France and elsewhere in the world lining up to |
| 1:43.2 | ascend the iconic tower. |
| 1:45.4 | This is one of several locations in France for the various sports of the Olympic Games, |
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