French Prime Minister is convinced that budgets will be approved if ‘political games’ are put aside

MADRID, December 23 (EUROPA PRESS) –

French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu expressed confidence in MPs’ ability to reach an agreement on the execution of budgets for 2026 and said this would only be possible if parties put aside “political games”.

“The Government is not there to prepare for the elections, but to move the country forward; it is a thankless task, but necessary,” he assured in a speech to the nation, adding that the Executive has chosen to “negotiate and seek compromises that benefit the country.”

His statements come after the French National Assembly unanimously approved a special bill to be able to finance the State from January 1 in the absence of agreement on the 2026 budgets, which the government hopes to approve “as soon as possible”.

The bill will now need to be approved by the Senate and signed by French President Emmanuel Macron. The government has so far refused to use article 49.3 of the Constitution to approve the budget text without a vote in the Assembly.

MPs have already given their “green light” last week to the Social Security financing law for 2026, which includes an amendment that definitively suspends the historic and controversial pension reform, an essential condition for socialist MPs to vote in favor of the measure.