French lawmakers on Wednesday rejected the 2027 state budget bill in its first reading, prolonging the political deadlock amid concerns about the country's public finances just months before the presidential election.
With 458 MPs voting against the bill and zero in favor (with two abstentions), all political groups, including those supporting the government, rejected the "revenue" section of the budget bill, amid a tense socio-economic climate.
At the end of nearly ten days of debate, opposition MPs expressed their rejection of the government's choices, while government allies lamented that the text had been completely stripped of its substance.
This development marks another chapter in the ongoing difficulties facing the passage of the budget in a National Assembly lacking a clear majority, ever since French President Emmanuel Macron dissolved parliament in 2024. As a result, the draft budget, in its original form, will now go to the Senate, where it will be debated starting November 20.
In an attempt to defuse the situation, the Prime Minister's office indicated that "the time for compromise will come later," postponing the possibility of reaching an agreement that reconciles the government's and the Senate's visions until December, or until the text is returned to the National Assembly for another reading.
The National Assembly had already made significant cuts to the budget in Emmanuel Macron's last term, a budget that aimed to reduce the public deficit to 5% of GDP by 2027, compared to the projected 5.4% this year. France currently has one of the highest debt and deficit ratios in Europe.
Parliamentarians scrapped austerity measures that would have reduced tax breaks for pensioners and cut funding for local authorities, and also abolished a surcharge on large corporations.
These discussions took place against a backdrop of negative economic indicators, with GDP contracting by 0.1% in the third quarter of the year.
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