Far-left presidential candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon rolled out a blueprint to repair France’s public finances by increasing levies on capital and wealthy households, and spending more on public services and green investments.

Aiming to reduce the deficit by €25 billion ($28 billion) in 2027 if elected next year, the 75-year-old vowed to channel more savings into France and repeated his demand to cancel some of the sovereign debt held by the European Central Bank.

“It is necessary to make financial capital contribute, because it is financial capital that has benefited fully, all along and in every possible way — from lower wages and reduced incomes to tax breaks of every kind — up to now,” Melenchon said in a press conference on Wednesday. “Why? Because it is the only option that does not have recessionary effects. When you tax a pension fund, or any financial institution of that kind, it does not cause a decline in economic activity.”As negotiations start in a deeply divided National Assembly to adopt a 2027 budget, Melenchon rejected spending cuts, saying he can achieve deficit reduction in 2027 thanks to extra revenue from taxes and investments.

That would put France on track to stabilize its debt-to-GDP ratio in the next five years, according to a 20-page document handed over by his party, France Unbowed. It proposes €106.6 billion in revenue and €81.7 billion in spending for next year.

A toxic combination of political chaos and mounting deficits have hammered French markets. The selloff in recent weeks has sent borrowing costs soaring to levels not seen in almost a quarter century. Last week, the risk premium on French 10-year debt over Italy’s hit a record.

The founder of the France Unbowed party, who also proposed taxing financial transactions and cryptocurrencies, spoke a week after far-right leader Marine Le Pen presented her own plan to reduce the budget deficit. Her measures included lowering the retirement age, taxing share buybacks and increasing levies on multinationals.

She is traveling to Brussels Wednesday to defend her plan, including massive cuts in the French contribution to the EU budget, ahead of a meeting of EU leaders. Melenchon would also cut the EU contribution under certain conditions but didn’t provide details.

Both candidates have a chance to make it to the runoff in May 2027, according to a recent poll that put Le Pen first in the first round with around 36% and Melenchon at around 18%.

Along with a menu of tax increases, including the wealth tax on assets above €100 million — inspired by French economist Gabriel Zucman — Melenchon also proposed consolidating institutions such as the Caisse des Dépôts, Bpifrance and Banque Postale into a single public banking group.

He’d also redirect more French household savings toward domestic investment, aiming for €100 billion a year in housing, transport, green industrialization, digital sovereignty and other key strategic sectors.

At the press briefing, Melenchon also slammed his capitalist nemeses, calling Bank of France Governor Emmanuel Moulin “ignorant” and the president of the Euronext NV trade platform Stephane Boujnah, “a speculator, a crisis profiteer and an exploiter of the people.”