Lecornu will approve France’s budget by decree despite promising not to do so | International

French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornuhas accepted this Monday afternoon the reality that his predecessors already had to accept: it is impossible right now to approve a budget in France without resorting to a decree. His intention to dialogue and agree on accounts that would be ratified by a majority of Parliament has reached the end of its journey. “To keep my word I would have to be stubborn and (…) it would end up saying that I am stubborn, and I absolutely do not want to have a bad ego or be a source of disorder,” he said before announcing the appeal he will apply.

The measure will be applied on Tuesday and will put an end, presumably, to months of discussions, motions of censure and a Government on the ropes. “We have decided, I must say in a personal capacity, with a certain form of regret and a bit of bitterness, to compromise the responsibility of the Government, which I will do tomorrow on the revenue part of the finance bill,” the prime minister confirmed from the Elysée on Monday.

Lecornu has had to make financial balances to keep almost everyone happy. On Friday he presented a new package of social measures to reassure the socialists and ensure that they would not vote in favor of the motions of censure that can be called by the parties each time article 49.3 of the Constitution is activated (for the approval by decree of parliamentary initiatives). The left of La Francia Insumisa (LFI) and the far-right National Regroupment (RN) have already announced that they will deposit motions in Parliament.

The 2026 budgets could not be approved at the end of last year, when it should have been done, according to the established deadline. The Executive chose in mid-December to resort to a special law to achieve a kind of budget extension, but insisting that it wanted to try the debate again in January. It has not been possible.

Lecornu announced on Friday – and confirmed it this Monday – that one of the essential conditions for this year’s public accounts is that the deficit does not exceed 5% of GDP to fulfill the commitment made with its European partners to reduce it to 3% at most in 2029. In 2025, the first anticipations suggest that the deficit was 5.4% of GDP, after in 2024 it had shot up to 5.8%.

The President of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron, a great supporter of Lecornu, valued the work of the head of the Government and considered on Monday in the Council of Ministers that the “consensus” budget project proposed for 2026 guarantees “stability” and “allows the country to move forward”, according to the Government spokesperson.

The Executive has faced systematic opposition from both extremes of Parliament: France Insoumise (LFI) and the National Regroupment (RN). This is, however, something that the prime minister already had when he proposed reaching an agreement. Now, however, Lecornu believes that time has run out and that the rest of the parties also prefer to resort to the decree route. “I remind you that the abandonment of 49.3 was demanded by the political forces in the National Assembly. And you can clearly see that these positions have been evolving for a few days, simply because everyone also comes to the conclusion that we are heading towards a dead end,” he assured. Lecornu must now hope that none of the motions of censure that will be voted on in the coming days will succeed.