French far right backpedals on big-ticket proposals as markets tumble

French markets were hit by a brutal sell-off on Friday as political uncertainty hit bank stocks and the bond-market rout deepened.

Big gains for the far right in the French election could force Macron to govern with a hostile parliament in a cohabitation government, making it extremely challenging for his centrist administration to push its policy agenda and bring France’s public finances to a more sustainable footing.

But, over the past days, the National Rally has been rowing back on some of the party’s flagship measures.

“You need to be realistic; I am the candidate of truth, and I don’t lie to the French,” the National Rally’s Jordan Bardella said on Friday in an interview with BFMTV, accusing the left-wing camp of making “Santa Claus” promises.

Earlier this week, Bardella hinted that the National Rally could backtrack on the idea to bring the retirement age to 60 for some categories of workers, and keep that measure for later. Over the course of the week, several RN heavyweights said that the party would not immediately implement all the economic measures listed in Le Pen’s 2022 presidential platform, which would potentially cost €101 billion a year, according to the Institut Montaigne think tank.

On Friday, Renaud Labaye, secretary-general of the National Rally group in France’s lower chamber and a former economy ministry official, reiterated that point and said that some of them, like the pensions reform, could be postponed to 2026.