Far right presidential frontrunner Le Pen to pitch budget cuts as French bonds bomb

French far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen presents plans on Tuesday to cut government spending by €25 billion ($28 billion) a year, ‌seeking to establish her fiscal credibility in the face of a growing bond market crisis. French borrowing costs have surged in recent days to levels not seen since the early 2000s as France has become a ‌focus of a global bond market rout over its strained public finances and political uncertainty ahead ‌of next year's election.

The fiscal crisis has become a top campaign issue, and convincing financial markets to fund campaign promises will be among the first big challenges for whoever is elected. Le Pen, who is leading in the polls ⁠for ​the two-round April 18-May 2 ⁠election, has sought to build budget credibility with her savings plans.

The veteran far-right leader has so far struggled to ⁠win over business leaders concerned about her euroscepticism and plans to reverse a contested 2023 pension reform. With investors offloading ​French assets, Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu's government has sought to calm market jitters by unveiling a ⁠2027 budget that includes €43 billion of new savings.

However, its fate in France's divided parliament rests with opposition parties, of which ⁠Le ​Pen's National Rally (RN) is the biggest. Le Pen has said she will also on Tuesday lay out a 2027 shadow budget, which should give an indication of what the RN's demands are ⁠for the haggling in the coming weeks in parliament.

Last year, the RN demanded that the 2026 ⁠budget include big savings ⁠from a cut in France's contribution to the European Union budget and restricting welfare benefits for immigrants and development aid. However, Lecornu was able to ‌pass the ‌2026 budget by securing tacit support from Socialists. ($1 = 0.8925 ​euros)