France’s National Assembly last night unanimously rejected the bill on the 2027 state budget.
Politico reports that it will not be easy for Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu to secure budget savings of €43 billion.
458 MPs — from both Emmanuel Macron’s camp and the opposition — voted against the first part of the document, which concerns tax revenues.
“So many amendments from different political forces were introduced that the end result was a version that suited no one. As a consequence, the second part of the draft, devoted to public spending, was also rejected,” the publication notes.
The government’s draft budget will now be sent to the Senate, where debate will begin on 20 November.
The lower house of the French parliament had previously already rejected another component of the 2027 budget, relating to state pensions and the healthcare system. This issue will now also be considered in the upper house of the French parliament.
Against the backdrop of a stagnating French economy, rising debt and the threat of a financial crisis, Lecornu’s government has come under pressure to bring France’s public finances into order. He has pledged to cut next year’s deficit — the gap between public spending and revenue — to 5% of gross domestic product.
On Wednesday, Budget Minister David Amiel warned that, taking the amendments into account, the version of the budget rejected that evening would have resulted in a deficit of 5.9%.
As Lecornu does not have a majority in the lower house, the document’s rejection was entirely expected. This increases the likelihood that the government will try to push it through by force.
With the presidential election in April 2027 approaching, the government has repeatedly stressed its intention to pass the budget by the end of this year — a task it failed to accomplish with the two previous budgets.
The government may again resort to Article 49.3 of the Constitution — a provision that allows it to bypass a parliamentary vote, but at the same time creates the risk of a no-confidence motion. There is also the option of adopting the budget via executive orders — a step without precedent in modern French history.
- In France, trade unions are calling for a nationwide strike that could spread to hospital workers, air traffic controllers, postal workers, teachers and railway staff. Hundreds of thousands of people are expected to take to the streets across the country.
- On the eve of the strike, four of France’s main rail unions said the government’s proposed budget cuts would “worsen poverty, reduce social protection, freeze civil servants’ pay and cut the investment needed for environmental measures”.