In the absence of a budget passed before December 31, a special law was adopted this Tuesday, December 23 by Parliament. This legislative tool is intended to ensure the continuity of the State to temporarily overcome the budgetary impasse. The votes of the two assemblies punctuate two and a half months of budgetary debates which ended in partial failure for Sébastien Lecornu.
Information to remember
⇒ Emmanuel Macron wants a budget “as soon as possible in January”
⇒ The National Assembly unanimously adopted the special bill
⇒ Sébastien Lecornu will speak at the end of the day
20h30
Sebastien Lecornu hopes for a compromise in January
“Taking the time to build a good budget is not a weakness,” said Sébastien Lecornu on Tuesday evening during a solemn speech from the steps of Matignon. “We therefore need a budget in January and our deficit must be reduced to less than 5% of GDP in 2026. I remain convinced that this is possible, if political calculations are put aside, Parliament will take its responsibilities, and so will the government,” continued the Prime Minister, pressed in particular by his camp to use article 49.3 to have the finance law adopted.
Sébastien Lecornu listed five themes on which he intends to seek agreement with the different political groups: agriculture, local authorities, housing, overseas and future and youth. The privileged dialogue initiated by the tenant of Matignon with the Socialist Party certainly enabled the adoption of the Social Security budget for 2026, at the cost of concessions on its financing and on pensions.
17h07
The special law adopted in the National Assembly
The National Assembly unanimously adopted on Tuesday the special bill aimed at continuing to provisionally finance the State, before the resumption of budgetary debates in January.
The text will be transmitted this Tuesday to the Senate with a view to final adoption. It was tabled by the government after the failure of the joint committee of deputies and senators on the 2026 draft budget. A special law had already been adopted in December 2024, after the censure of Michel Barnier’s government.
12h35
Sébastien Lecornu will speak at the end of the day
The Prime Minister will speak “at the end of the day”, in order to report “on the action of the government and in particular the work for the adoption of a budget for the State”, indicated Matignon.
The privileged dialogue initiated by Sébastien Lecornu with the Socialist Party certainly enabled the adoption of the Social Security budget for 2026, at the cost of concessions on its financing and on pensions. But the deep differences between the National Assembly and the Senate, held by parties of the right and the center hostile to any additional levies, prevented the approval of the second budgetary text, that on state financing.
09h09
The government will put the surtax on large businesses back on the table
The government will put the surtax on the profits of large businesses, removed by the Senate, back on the table when budgetary discussions resume in January, to reduce the deficit to 5% of GDP, the Minister responsible for Relations with Parliament, Laurent Panifous, said on France 2 on Tuesday.
“At the end of the Senate’s work, we have a text which is a 5.3% deficit, it is far too much. The objective shared by the left and the right is 5%, that means a difference of nine billion,” he explained.
After the adoption by Parliament of the special law this Tuesday to guarantee the continuity of the State at the beginning of January, the new reading on the budget will begin the week of January 5 in committee at the Assembly, he confirmed but “the compromise work will not wait until January 5”.
Asked about the use of 49.3 in the event of failure of these new negotiations, Laurent Panifous pointed out “that those who ask for 49.3 never say on which text we base ourselves”. “So, we will not be able to save this work which is that of compromise and the construction of a text,” he concluded.
08h52
A budget without 49.3 is “possible” believes Roland Lescure
Questioned this Tuesday morning on BFMTV/RMC, the Minister of Economy and Finance, Roland Lescure, said he was opposed to the idea of a 49.3 to pass the 2026 budget, conceding that this “will require effort from everyone”.
“I find it absolutely fascinating that the most hated instrument of the Fifth (Republic) for three years has suddenly become everyone’s comfort blanket to which we cling […] If you pass 49.3 without agreement on a text, you will have neither budget nor government because the government will fall,” he said. “I think it’s possible, that we can get there,” he added.
00h32
Emmanuel Macron wants a budget “as soon as possible in January”
After its presentation to the Council of Ministers and before the Finance Committee of the National Assembly on Monday December 22, the special law must be examined in session in both chambers this Tuesday before new budgetary discussions at the start of the school year to try to provide the country with a real finance law.
But “it is not satisfactory” and “we will have to give a budget to the nation as quickly as possible,” which “must meet the 5% deficit objective and finance our priorities,” declared Emmanuel Macron, according to comments reported by government spokesperson Maud Bregeon. An objective that the budget rapporteur for the Assembly, Philippe Juvin (LR), would like to see achieved in the first fifteen days of January. Maintaining this transitional text “beyond January would risk greatly weakening the French economy”, assured the Minister of the Economy Roland Lescure before the Finance Committee of the National Assembly.
The special law, which will be examined on Tuesday in Parliament, “therefore reflects the government’s desire to give final negotiations a chance”, explained the president. The executive still rules out the hypothesis of a return to 49.3 for the adoption of this budget, “still voteable without government intervention”, declared the Prime Minister, Sébastien Lecornu, during this Council, according to Maud Bregeon.
