France's Bardella compares criticism of proposed budget to early doubts around Meloni

By Victoria Waldersee

MADRID, Oct 13 (Reuters) - French far-right leader Jordan Bardella on Tuesday compared criticism of his National Rally party's proposed budget to the doubts directed at Giorgia Meloni before she became prime minister of Italy, adding the "biggest danger" to France was to stay on its current economic course.

Speaking at a forum in Madrid alongside the leader of Spanish far-right party Vox, Santiago Abascal, Bardella said his party carried no responsibility for France's current economic dilemmas and was confident its proposal would reactivate the French economy.

National Rally's budget plan, presented last week, pledges to cut public spending by €140 billion, bring the budget deficit below 3% of GDP by 2030, reduce debt from about 121% of GDP to 112% by 2032, and enshrine budget discipline in France's constitution.

The plan has been criticised heavily both by the National Rally's political opponents and economists who questioned the viability of proposed savings.

"The criticism... is the same that they directed at Giorgia Meloni, saying the Italian economy will be a disaster. Now those same advisors see Meloni as the new Angela Merkel of Europe," Bardella said, referring to Germany's former chancellor.

"What we will try in France has never been tried. The biggest danger for France is to continue as before," he added.

National Rally leader Marine Le Pen is expected to face hard-left rival Jean-Luc Melenchon in a run-off that Le Pen is likely to win, according to recent polls, a sign of growing polarisation in France's political landscape as President Emmanuel Macron's time in power draws to a close.

Convincing financial markets to fund campaign promises has become a top campaign issue, with French borrowing costs hovering at 25-year highs on anxiety over strained public finances and political uncertainty ahead of next year's election.

(Reporting by Victoria Waldersee and Elizabeth Pineau; Editing by Alexandra Hudson)