France’s 2026 budget was meant to show fiscal discipline and shore up Emmanuel Macron’s hold on power. Instead, it exposed the depth of the country’s political crisis — and the limits of the president’s authority, uniting opposition forces in their distaste for the government.
Prime Minister François Bayrou presented the 2026 budget on Tuesday, outlining plans to find €40 billion in spending cuts and tax hikes.
In the background was Macron’s deep unpopularity, a swollen public deficit running at 5.8% of GDP — well above the EU’s 3% threshold — and a towering €3.3 trillion in public debt.
Since the unveiling of the budget, which includes a proposal to cut two public holidays from the calendar and reduce healthcare spending, there has been fierce backlash.
Jordan Bardella, president of the far-right National Rally and a member of the European Parliament, called the budget a “direct attack on our history, our roots, and on the working French.” The left-wing La France Insoumise (LFI) declared it “a long tunnel of untruths, a museum of neoliberal horrors.” Even the Socialists, who had backed Bayrou’s earlier budget proposals this year, joined LFI and National Rally in calling for a no-confidence vote.
The chaos in the National Assembly is sure to grab attention in Brussels, which has been grappling with its own budget this week. France’s spiraling debt — third highest in the EU behind Greece and Italy — is under growing scrutiny. The French debt is projected to hit 120% of GDP by late 2027, whereas Italy’s has plateaued and Greece’s is declining.
Last year, France’s attempt to rein in its 2024 deficit with €16 billion in cuts — largely to energy subsidies — led to political deadlock. The government forced the budget through without a vote, only to be weakened further by snap elections, which resulted in a hung parliament. The European Commission then placed France under its Excessive Deficit Procedure, a formal warning for breaching EU rules.
Rather than structural reform, the government is relying on short-term fixes like freezing spending and one-off tax hikes. “That doesn’t solve the underlying problem — the deficit is still too high. The debt ratio will keep rising,” Andrew Kenningham, the chief economist for Europe at Capital Economics, told The Parliament. “A bigger crisis might be just down the road.”
The EU will be watching closely, with any prolonged chaos liable to hurt France’s credibility in Brussels. “What’s sure is that France needs to do its homework to put its public finances in order if it wants to be a loud voice shaping the European debate,” said Sébastien Maillard, a former director of the Jacques Delors Institute and now a special advisor to the think tank. “Sound finance and political unity are needed to have a proper place.”
Macron’s austerity push faces backlash
Macron’s struggle to rein in France’s deficit is not new — and neither is the fierce public resistance it provokes. Efforts to reduce spending have repeatedly ended in political blowback and public anger, undermining the president’s ability to push reforms through the National Assembly.
In 2023, the government’s controversial pension reform, which aimed to streamline the system and raise the retirement age, was met with mass protests, strikes, and street demonstrations. It passed only after Macron bypassed lawmakers entirely, relying on special constitutional powers — a move that deepened perceptions of democratic disregard.
“The French political system is quite averse to making reductions in the deficit,” said Kenningham. “France rightly has a reputation for being a country where the population as a whole... comes out on the streets, they protest whenever there's any change.”
The 2026 budget risks triggering a similar backlash. Among the most contentious measures is a proposal to eliminate two public holidays. “The entire nation must work more,” Bayrou told the National Assembly on Tuesday. “That’s why I propose the removal of two public holidays.”
For many on the left, the symbolism of those cuts runs deep. “For me, it is catastrophic,” said MEP Leïla Chaibi of the Left group in the European Parliament, whose party, the LFI, won the most seats in the 2024 snap elections, followed by Macron's coalition. “It’s the return of big austerity, and once again, we’ve decided to focus the effort on the poorest… we’re going to involve the workers and the most precarious to finance war, arms and defence.”
Chaibi argued the budget reflects a broader pattern under Macron. "It was as if...for a year the various governments that followed one another decided to govern against the people," she said. "But [the government's] working for the European Commission...and for a minority in our country, which is a minority of rich people."
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