France: Opposition Slams PM Bayrou’s Budget Cut Plan
FRANCE, JUL 16 – Bayrou's 2026 budget plan includes €44 billion in austerity measures and a €6.5 billion increase in defense spending amid France's public debt at 114% of GDP, sparking broad opposition.
- On July 15, 2025, Prime Minister François Bayrou unveiled the 2026 budget in Paris, proposing €44 billion in savings and stressing the need to cut the deficit by €43.8 billion by 2026.
- Facing a public debt at 114% of GDP, the government styled its €44 billion savings plan after Italy's Monti-era austerity, affecting families to public employees.
- Under the plan, social benefits and pensions will be frozen for a 'white year,' two public holidays eliminated and healthcare cuts will yield €21 billion.
- In Parliament, a fragmented majority and the combative left threaten a no-confidence vote, making the coming days critical for government stability.
- Future projections indicate defense spending is set to rise by €6.5 billion by 2027 and €27 billion over ten years, risking explosive opposition across Europe.
72 Articles
72 Articles
Find our editorial on Friday, July 18, 2025. It took a totem to concentrate the opposition shots against his draft budget, Bayrou chose the holidays.
On 29 June, Olivier Faure, the first secretary of the Socialist Party, summarized in a sentence the entire economic emptiness of a certain French left: "When one is French and one has received everything from this country, one must participate in national solidarity."A moralizing flight that could have been worthy of a Sunday sermon, if it did not translate into a proposal with disastrous economic consequences: to punctuate 40 billion euros out …
How France Chokes Opposition Parties
On July 9, 2025, 20 armed French police raided the offices of the Rassemblement National (RN), France’s far right party. Two judges had opened a case against the party a year before, after receiving a tip that individuals might have loaned it money illegally. Many on the left rejoiced at this new legal hurdle faced by the RN, which came only months after Marine Le Pen, the former party leader and three-time presidential hopeful, was sentenced to…
It takes 44 billion to reduce the deficit: I work also in the holidays and cuts to health care. The opposition ready to drop the government. Macron: "If anyone has better ideas, we will welcome them."
For the socialists, the draft budget presented on Tuesday by François Bayrou deserves the censorship of the government. They announce that they will present their own proposals in September.
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- 41% of the sources lean Left
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