
Political tensions around the budget, Ukraine and the presidential campaign in France
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French political news marked by declarations from various candidates and political leaders.
The RN demanded on Thursday the resignation of the governor of the Bank of France, Emmanuel Moulin, accused by the deputy Jean-Philippe Tanguy “of having crossed the red line” by recalling that the budget could be adopted without a vote in Parliament.
“It’s shameful. Mr. Moulin still behaves like a Macronist and not like the governor of the Bank of France. He must leave,” declared Jean-Philippe Tanguy on France 2. On Wednesday, Marine Le Pen had already demanded the resignation of the President of the Constitutional Council Richard Ferrand who had ruled that the Constitution could not be revised directly by referendum through Article 11, bypassing Parliament, as the RN presidential candidate would like.
Invited on LCI this Thursday morning, environmentalist candidate Marine Tondelier claimed to have an “ultimate political adversary: the RN”. “I want the extreme right to be kept away from this country, I want to fight the right and the center who have done a lot of harm to our country, I want a victory for our side.”
Marine Tondelier called on Raphaël Glucksmann to work with other left-wing candidates, in particular on “the ecological revolution” that he proposes. “Who is he leading his ecological revolution with, if he doesn’t want to work with La France insoumise?” the candidate pretended to wonder. “When we have a total [of votes on] the left at 35%, if we reduce the total, that makes even fewer people… So that means that we have to work with others who are not in our political camp,” she lambasted.
The leader of the Greens resumed her presidential campaign this Wednesday after nearly four weeks of maternity leave. She called on women to “let go” and said “travel your path as a candidate and a mother” by doing “the best you can”, in a message on social networks.
The Ecologist candidate, who said she received many kind messages after giving birth to a boy, Léon, on September 23, said she also had “the right – and perhaps even more so as a politician – to make judgments about what I should do or not. All filled with a lot of contradictory injunctions, obviously.”
“Let women go, stop judging them always so harshly,” she demanded, explaining that each woman who has just given birth “does as she can, as she wants and above all as she feels.”
While traveling in Brussels on Wednesday, Marine Le Pen announced that she would “maintain the aid allocated to Ukraine for six months”. Before continuing: “But then we will stop the financial aid because we no longer have the means to do it.” Guest of Franceinfo, the nationalist's proposal provoked the ire of the Renaissance candidate, Gabriel Attal. “Marine Le Pen has never pretended to want to support the Ukrainians […]. We know that she defends the interests of Russia,” he mocked. Before snapping: “We know that she wants to let the Ukrainians be killed, that poses absolutely no problem for her.”
“This is not a humanitarian operation to have fun. It’s for our defense. Behind Ukraine, there is the European Union,” defended the former prime minister, who went to kyiv last February.
Jean-Luc Mélenchon thinks he has a chance of winning the presidential election. His candidacy enjoys a dynamic in public opinion which brings him to 16% of voting intentions in the latest Ifop-Fiducial survey for Le Figaro. In other polls, it is even around 20%. A substantial contingent which could allow her to qualify for the second round against Marine Le Pen, the big favorite in the poll.
In the hypothesis of a duel of radicalities, embodied by the two personalities, the economy will undoubtedly constitute a central issue in convincing a moderate electorate to switch to one side or the other. This is why, after the presentation of the RN counter-budget last week, the founder of La France insoumise in turn presented, on Wednesday, the measures he would take in the amending finance law the day after his arrival in power.
MÉLENCHON’S PUNCH BUDGET

In the Social Affairs Committee, deputies approved the extension of the “soda tax” to sugary and ultra-processed products for 2027, as well as the Nutri-Score obligation and a progressive ban on the sale of tobacco.

For her first press conference at the White House, the new spokesperson for the Trump Administration, Katie Zacharia, showed nervousness and dodged a question on Ukraine in front of conservative media.

Raphaël Glucksmann wins the primary of the non-Melenchonist left with 66.17% of the votes for the 2027 presidential election, while journalist Natacha Polony formalizes her candidacy.

Amir Reza-Tofighi announces that he will stay in France if LFI wins the presidential election, in reaction to Patrick Martin's comments. At the same time, a decree reallocates more than 400 million euros from the budget towards aid for farmers, while the budgetary debate continues in the Assembly.

The National Rally demands the resignation of the governor of the Bank of France Emmanuel Moulin. At the same time, Marine Tondelier resumes her presidential campaign, Gabriel Attal criticizes Marine Le Pen's position on aid to Ukraine, and Jean-Luc Mélenchon presents his economic measures.

Traveling to Brussels, Marine Le Pen announced the National Rally's plan to reduce the French contribution to the European budget by 11 billion euros and to stop financial aid to Ukraine after six months. A position which sparked strong criticism from Gabriel Attal.