Marine Le Pen vows to massively cut France’s funding to the EU if elected president

Marine Le Pen, figurehead of far-right party Rassemblement National (RN), has vowed to cap France’s funding to the EU if elected president in next year’s election.

It comes as French MPs approved France’s contribution of €30.9 billion to the EU’s budget for 2027 during a parliamentary vote on October 14.

“France’s contribution to the European Union has already skyrocketed since 2017: its net contribution has risen by almost 100% and now stands at around €10 billion. I will therefore advocate a strict cap on France’s net contribution to the European Union at €5 billion,” said Le Pen in a social media post.

In a video clip added to the social media post, Le Pen said that the €5 billion figure matches the amount agreed under former President Jacques Chirac in 2005 after the EU’s eastward enlargement. 

The clip was filmed at a press conference in Brussels on the eve of a leaders’ summit on the EU budget.

Le Pen suggested that in light of the proposed cuts, the European Commission should abandon a number of policy areas “such as health and security,” and return to a “secretarial role” to serve the EU nations.  

“France will no longer accept the Commission exercising diplomatic powers, let alone military or intelligence powers, as it appears to be doing,” Le Pen added.

Far-right EU alliances

Note that this decision to cut funding cannot be taken unilaterally and would have to be approved by other EU member states and the European Parliament. 

Benjamin Haddad, France's European Affairs Minister, pointed out that while France “is a net contributor [to the EU budget], like the 12 other richest countries in our Union” it is “the largest recipient in terms of volume” of European subsidies for farmers, regions and businesses, reported Europe 1.

The RN previously called for France to leave the EU (dubbed ‘Frexit’) but has since softened its position to become merely Eurosceptic, wanting to change the union from the inside through its alliance with other far-right parties - particularly in countries such as Spain, Italy and Poland, where they hope allies will win upcoming elections. 

Le Pen criticised the EU for its “contradictions and hypocrisy,” and proposals to cut France’s funding to the bloc could create further tensions with Brussels.

'€140bn in savings by 2032'

On October 6, the RN laid out its ‘alternative budget’, a document released outlining its five-year plan for the French economy between 2027 and 2032.

The ambitious proposals, which will be taken as the party’s economic policy plan going into the 2027 presidential election, cover €140 billion net in savings and cuts by the end of 2032. 

The budget would drop France’s deficit to below 3% by 2030, said the RN, compared to 5.4% by the end of 2026. However, the party made wide assumptions that are far from guaranteed.

As well as reducing France’s commitments to the EU budget, the party suggested that companies should face a €1,000 per-year tax for each non-EU/non-EEA/non-Swiss citizen they employ. 

The RN said that around 1.3 million ‘foreign’ (non-EU) nationals are employed in France, equalling an annual revenue of €1.3 billion from the tax. 

The Institut de l’Entreprise, a business-backed think tank, argues that instead of making €140 billion in savings by the end of the term, the RN plan would actually deliver less than €10 billion, and calls some measures “legally fragile.”