US EditionFrench lawmakers pass social security budget in knife-edge vote
The budget passed by 247 to 234 votes secures funding for healthcare, pensions, and welfare but leaves a €20 billion shortfall and political tensions in a divided parliament.
- On Tuesday, the National Assembly approved the 2026 social security financing bill by 247 votes to 234 with 93 abstentions, a margin of just 13 votes that Prime Minister S�bastien Lecornu hailed as a crucial victory.
- By cutting a deal with the Socialist Party, Lecornu gained support after agreeing to suspend the 2023 pension reform and freeze the retirement age from 62 to 64 last Friday.
- Social security financing faces a 23 billion deficit for 2025, and last week a memo warned MPs the deficit could rise to 30 billion by 2026, which Pierre Pribile called "extremely worrying".
- It now moves to the Senate for a fresh reading, where senators could accept or reject it, and lawmakers must still vote on the second part of the budget later this month or before Christmas.
- Budget battles have already toppled three governments since President Emmanuel Macron lost his majority last year, while concessions have left Prime Minister S�bastien Lecornu politically weakened as the government aims to cut the deficit to less than 5 per cent of GDP next year.
24 Articles
24 Articles
In France, the National Assembly approved the social security budget just over three weeks before the deadline for the end of the year.
In France, after several months of heated political debate, a social security budget has finally been adopted.
The Paris National Assembly adopted the social budget for 2026 with a very narrow majority. A defeat in the most important budget item would also have heralded the end of Prime Minister Lecornu's government.
The results of the voteMarylise Léon, the Secretary General of the CFDT, recently compared the examination of the budget to a "sausage fair". Difficult to make him wrong... On Tuesday 9 December, shortly before 8 p.m., the National Assembly voted on the whole of the PLFSS for 2026 (Social Security Financing Bill). And it adopted, by 247 votes to 234. 13 majority votes, including that of the President of the National Assembly, Yaël Braun-Pivet, w…
The National Assembly passed the Social Security Financing Bill on Tuesday, December 9. Discover the vote of your elected representatives.
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