The far-right Marine Le Pen is promising the French prosperity during the election campaign. She wants to spend a lot of money on this – but France is heavily in debt. The economy is alarmed, but the alternative is hardly any better received.
C’est l’économie, idiot! That’s what campaigner Bill Clinton’s old saying sounds like in French. And that’s how sociologists and economists sum up the mood in the country ahead of the abruptly called parliamentary elections next week: it’s about economic worries. The election, it is predicted, will once again be decided by the question of who will bring the French more purchasing power. The famous “pouvoir d’achat” and the concern that their own consumer options are shrinking – that is the old and ever bigger issue for the masses of voters in the country.
Source: Stern
