The French Prime Minister, , does not lose hope in achieving the difficult mission that was entrusted to him when he was appointed to office last September: approving budgets for 2026 in a deeply fragmented Parliament. This Tuesday, a few days before the Christmas break, he gave a brief speech in which he warned that France “needs a budget in January” and that it is still possible to achieve it “if political interests are put aside.”
He said this after the French Assembly validated, without surprise and unanimously, this year’s, an emergency measure promoted by Lecornu after the rejection of the 2026 accounts in the final stretch of the negotiation and after months of parliamentary debate. The 496 deputies present voted in favor. No one did it against it.
This emergency law is a temporary patch that does not resolve the political and economic blockade in France, so the idea is that this “transitional phase” lasts as little as possible. The objective is to resume in January to try to agree on complete accounts adapted to the economic reality of the country and approve them at the end of that month, according to the ambitious deadline that the Government has set. The divergences between the different political groups have made an agreement impossible until now.
Lecornu has appeared from the headquarters of the Government and has urged politicians to “flee from the current disorder” and quickly approve accounts at the end of January. He has also stated that “the Government will assume its responsibility” otherwise. “Reaching a compromise does not imply a political resignation or confusion,” stated the prime minister and insisted that “agreements can be reached without having an absolute majority,” as shown by the approval of the Social Security budgets a few weeks ago.
Before the deputies, Lecornu and the economic ministers have insisted on the danger it represents for the country. “This minimum law implies maximum risks. I am not trying to dramatize, but it is a measure that does not solve anything, it does not respond to the needs and urgencies of the French. We run the risk of the country entering into immobility,” denounced the Minister of Public Accounts, Amélie de Montchalin, in her speech before the Chamber.
The budget extension law is an exceptional text provided for by the French Constitution for emergency situations. It consists of three articles. It avoids administrative paralysis, by allowing the State to collect taxes, pay salaries to officials and finance itself in the markets, but it does not give more room for maneuver, either to increase spending or to undertake the cuts necessary to tackle debt.
France has and the deficit, 5.4% this year, is very far from the 3% that Brussels sets as the limit for 2029. Organizations such as the Court of Auditors or the Bank of France insist on the urgency of reducing it to 5% of GDP in 2026. According to the French Observatory of Economic Situation, if the budget extension is extended to all of 2026, the State will stop receiving 6.5 billion euros and will be more difficult to achieve the deficit target. Lecornu also recalled, in his speech, that “the deficit must be reduced to 5% this year” and that continuing without budgets “will have negative effects.”
In December of last year, the former prime minister also had to resort to this emergency measure, after his budgets were rejected within the deadline set by the Constitution, before the end of the year. Finally, the parliamentarians reached an agreement weeks after having validated the extension of the previous year’s accounts.
“A few extra weeks”
“This only allows us to gain a few extra weeks to continue negotiating,” said the head of the Economy, Roland Lescure, in his turn to speak. He has warned of the consequences for the country if this exceptional period is extended. Without budgets, it will not be possible to make new investments or increase defense spending, as planned. “On January 1 we must wake up with the same obsession with which we went to bed on December 31: having a budget,” he emphasized.
Negotiations for this will resume after the Christmas break. Lecornu hopes to be able to achieve this without having to resort to article 49.3 of the Constitution, which allows him to approve budgets by decree. He had promised the socialists not to do so in exchange for not being censored. He has kept his word, despite the fact that there are more and more political leaders in the center and on the right who ask him to opt for this solution to get out of the jam.
In recent days, Lecornu has met with opposition parties to pave the way for negotiations, with the exception of the far-right formation led by and the leftist La Francia Insumisa. The initial budget text has already been debated and modified, so it is not starting from scratch. The red lines of each bloc have become clear: the left demands more social spending and asks to raise rates on large wealth groups to subsidize it, while the right and Macronist allies, reluctant to raise taxes, believe that cuts are the only way to rebalance.
Municipal elections are held in March, which will complicate budget negotiations. Approving it would be a triumph for Lecornu, although it will not resolve the unusual political instability that the country is experiencing. It dates back to the 2022 legislative elections, which left the Government without a majority in a fragmented Parliament. The situation worsened with Emmanuel Macron’s decision to dissolve it and repeat elections in July 2024. The polls produced an even more polarized Assembly, incapable of reaching compromises. Since then, there have been three governments that have failed in the attempt to carry out budgets with unprecedented cuts.
