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France faces Monday deadline for budget bill
Lawmakers are likely to make drastic amendments to the bill
Stopgap legislation may be needed to keep the government running
PARIS, Oct 10 (Reuters) – French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu, reappointed late on Friday, days after resigning, faces the immediate test of delivering a 2026 budget bill by Monday to give it any chance of passing the divided parliament by the end of the year.
Here’s what’s at stake:
Why Lecornu faces a race against the clock
The hard deadline for Lecornu to present a draft budget bill is October 13 – first to the Cabinet, and then to Parliament on the same day.
This means, at a minimum, the ministers responsible for finance, budget and social security should be appointed by then.
Missing the deadline will deprive lawmakers of the 70 days given by the Constitution to debate and pass the budget before the end of the year. The Constitutional Court also requires eight days to review legislation.
Before resigning, Lecornu had already sent a draft to France’s independent fiscal watchdog, the Haute Conseil des Finances Publiques, for review in accordance with the law.
What’s in the draft budget? Lecornu has not given any details about what is in the draft, but he said after resigning that the budget deficit should be reduced to between 4.7% and 5% of economic output next year, a wide difference from the 4.6% targeted by his predecessor. The deficit this year is estimated to be 5.4%. He has refused to impose a 2% tax on wealth above €100 million as demanded by the left, but has promised to raise taxes on the rich while reducing room for tax optimization strategies.
What happens in Parliament?
If Lecornu is not toppled by a no-confidence vote, his bill will almost certainly be heavily amended in the National Assembly, where no party has a clear majority.
Prior to his reappointment, Lecornu had pledged not to invoke special constitutional powers to bypass parliament and pass the budget, which could potentially lead to a vote of no confidence against him.
Some left-wing MPs have expressed fears that the new government is counting on Parliament failing to pass a budget within the 70-day period – which could allow it to adopt the bill by decree.
What happens if Lecornu falls?
If Lecornu is toppled by a no-confidence vote, as some opponents are already promising, Parliament would need to pass emergency stopgap legislation to authorize spending, taxation and borrowing until a full budget is adopted from January 1.
France resorted to such emergency measures last December after ousting the government of then-Prime Minister Michel Barnier, invalidating his proposed 2025 budget.
While a stopgap law would avoid a US-style government shutdown, it would impose strict limits on public finances until the new government passes a full budget next year. (Reporting by Leigh Thomas; Editing by Richard Lough and Toby Chopra)
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