France's far right propped up the weak government. It could now bring it crashing down

France's government is hanging by a thread with the far-right National Rally party threatening to bring down Prime Minister Michel Barnier's administration by the end of the year.

National Rally's figurehead Marine Le Pen suggested Monday that talks with Barnier, aimed at extracting concessions on a tax-hiking 2025 French budget bill, had failed to produce changes that would allow her party to approve the government's plans.

"We will see if today's proposals are taken on board, but nothing is certain," Le Pen said Monday, in comments reported by the Associated Press.

She was also reported to have reminded the prime minister of her party's "red lines," including its opposition to plans to raise electricity taxes and the delaying of increases to state pensions.

"We said what were the non-negotiable elements for us," Le Pen said, AP added. "We are straight in our political approach. We defend the French people."

Le Pen reportedly stated that if the government looks to force through the budget in December without the changes it wants, her National Rally party intends to support a confidence vote that the New Popular Front (NFP) alliance has already threatened.

Over the next few weeks, the budget bill is expected to be shuffled between the Senate and National Assembly, where a majority of lawmakers have already rejected the bill in both its original, and subsequently amended, form. The original budget has now gone to the Senate for review and debate before it faces a final vote on Dec. 12. It must be passed by Dec. 21.

Barnier has signaled he could use special constitutional powers to circumvent a parliamentary vote and get the budget passed by presidential decree.

That same rule — Article 49.3 of the French constitution — allows