PARIS — France’s government suspended talks in parliament on its 2026 budget until Tuesday after lawmakers failed to reach a compromise, leaving the prime minister with the option of bypassing parliament to push the bill through unless he can bridge the divide.
That choice would risk a no confidence motion, which could lead to the collapse of government, unless it can find a compromise between the ideologically opposed hard-left France Unbowed (LFI) and the far-right National Rally (RN).
“The extremes have methodically voted for amendments to make the budget unvotable,” Budget Minister Amelie de Montchalin said on Friday in an interview on France 2 TV.
Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu will on Friday propose an amended draft of the budget to try to reach a compromise before talks resume on Tuesday, according to Ms. Montchalin.
“There are things we have proposed that clearly do not work,” she said. “We saw that there were issues concerning local authorities, which is a major concern. It’s a matter of everyday life.”
If no compromise is found, Lecornu could choose to invoke Article 49.3 of the Constitution to push through the finance bill without a vote, after negotiating a text with all groups except the RN and LFI.
Mr. Lecornu has repeatedly vowed not to do that, saying he wishes for the parliament to come to an agreement.
The alternative could be to invoke Article 47 – an executive order allowing the government to pass the budget without parliamentary approval and which would make the bill a definitive law, even if a vote of no confidence were to bring down the government.— Reuters
