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Bayrou Unveils €43.8B Austerity Plan to Curb France’s Deficit

Faced with public debt above 113% of GDP, breaching EU deficit limits, the government has embraced stringent savings measures to restore fiscal order.

« J’ai tranché en conscience sans intérêt personnel ou catégoriel, dans le seul souci d’offrir à la Nation, de revenir à un meilleur équilibre pour défendre notre liberté. » a martelé François Bayrou.
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Le premier ministre François Bayrou a annoncé mardi 15 juillet un plan budgétaire pour 2026.
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Overview

  • Prime Minister François Bayrou presented orientations for the 2026 budget targeting €43.8 billion in savings to reduce the deficit to 4.6% of GDP.
  • The plan freezes state spending at 2025 levels—excluding debt service and planned defence increases—and will cut about 3,000 public-sector jobs through a non-replacement rule.
  • Social benefits, pensions and tax brackets will be frozen at 2025 levels throughout 2026 under an “année blanche” measure that forgoes inflation adjustments.
  • Structural measures include removing two public holidays, merging or reintegrating unproductive agencies, doubling the drug reimbursement franchise and introducing a solidarity levy on high earners alongside tougher anti-fraud efforts.
  • Opposition factions from Rassemblement National to La France Insoumise have threatened motions of censure, jeopardizing the budget’s passage.