France's far right threatens to bring down the government over the planned budget

PARIS (AP) — French far-right leader Marine Le Pen said Monday that she could bring down France's minority government by the end of the year unless changes are made to the country's budget bill.

Le Pen made her remarks after a meeting with conservative Prime Minister Michel Barnier over next year's budget and other issues. Barnier was to meet with other political leaders from the left and the center later in the day.

Le Pen said lawmakers from her National Rally party, including herself, would bring a confidence motion if the bill now being debated in parliament “stays as it is.”

Le Pen said she expressed “red lines," including a refusal to raise electricity taxes and the need to increase state pensions from January.

Barnier's Cabinet is forced to rely on the far right’s good will to be able to stay in power. The budget bill for next year must be passed by Dec. 21.

“We said what were the nonnegotiable elements for us," Le Pen said. “We are straight in our political approach. We defend the French people.”

Following the June-July parliamentary elections, the National Assembly, France’s powerful lower house of parliament, is divided into three major blocs: a left-wing coalition, the New Popular Front, Macron’s centrist allies and the far-right National Rally party. None of them won an outright majority.

Barnier’s Cabinet is mostly composed of members of his Republicans party and centrists from President Emmanuel Macron’s alliance, who altogether count just over 210 lawmakers out of 577.

France is under pressure from the European Union’s executive body to reduce its colossal debt. Barnier's Cabinet seeks to reduce France’s deficit from an estimated 6% of Gross Domestic Product now to 5% next year through a 60 billion ($66 billion) budget squeeze.

Last month, the government survived a confidence vote brought by the left-wing coalition because the far-right group abstained from voting.

Le Pen's comments come as she and other National Rally officials are on trial in Paris over the suspected embezzlement of European Parliament funds. Paris prosecutors requested a 2-year prison sentence for her, along with a 5-year period of ineligibility to run for office.