Costly election pledges in France may push country deeper into debt

The promises are appealing - and expensive.

Vying to oust the centrist government of President Emmanuel Macron in an upcoming two-round parliamentary election June 30 and July 7, French political parties of both the far right and far left are vowing to cut gasoline taxes, let workers retire earlier and raise wages.

Their campaign pledges threaten to bust an already-swollen government budget, push up French interest rates and strain France's relations with the European Union.

The snap election could well replace Macron's limping centrist government with one led by parties whose campaigns have abandoned any pretence of fiscal discipline,' economist Brigitte Granville of Queen Mary University of London wrote Thursday on the Project Syndicate website.

The turbulence began June 9 when voters handed Macron a defeat at the hands of Marine Le Pen's hard right National Rally party in EU parliamentary elections.

Macron promptly and surprisingly called a snap parliamentary election, convince