LONDON (AFP) – Paris’ stock market fell at the start of trading yesterday ahead of a key vote on part of France’s belt-tightening draft budget that threatens to topple the government.
The Paris CAC 40 index dropped 1.1 per cent to 7,151.18 points.
Shares in auto giant Stellantis, a multi-brand auto giant that includes Jeep, Peugeot-Citroen and Fiat, fell more than seven per cent after chief executive Carlos Tavares abruptly resigned.
Elsewhere, London’s FTSE 100 index dropped 0.1 per cent to 8,278.15 points and Frankfurt’s DAX lost 0.2 per cent to 19,580.45.
The euro remained stuck around 14-month lows on concerns about the budget standoff in Paris.
Marine Le Pen, the parliamentary leader of the far-right National Rally (RN), has expressed opposition to several aspects of the government’s 2025 budget plan, including the social security financing project.
These include planned cuts in employer social contributions, a partial end to inflation-indexing of pensions and a less generous prescription drug reimbursement policy.
Lacking a majority, Barnier could use executive powers to force through the legislation without a vote. Such a move would expose him to a vote of no confidence within days, with the left wing and Le Pen’s RN willing to back that motion bringing down the government.
