Overview
- The Social Security financing bill starts eight days of scrutiny with roughly 2,500 amendments, a solemn vote set for 12 November, and transmission to the Senate required by 23 November even if debate is unfinished.
- Ministers aim to cut the Sécu deficit to €17.5 billion in 2026 from €23 billion in 2025, hinging on a 1.6% cap on health spending growth and controversial savings.
- Cour des comptes president Pierre Moscovici cautions the path is very vulnerable and says the deficit could hold or even increase depending on parliamentary outcomes.
- Flashpoints include a plan to double medical franchises rejected in committee, new limits on initial sick leave endorsed in committee, and the insertion of a pensions reform suspension via article 45 bis with its financing still disputed.
- Political bargaining is centered on alternatives such as higher CSG on capital and easing hospital cuts pressed by the left, resistance from the right to the suspension article, and a paused state budget revenue debate that heightens calendar pressure.