Sébastien Lecornu urges French parliament to adopt 2027 budget and warns against delays

Letter to parliamentarians

French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu sent a 14-page letter to parliamentarians on 22 August 2026, urging all political groups not to postpone the 2027 state budget until after the 2027 presidential election. In the letter, initially reported by Le Parisien, Lecornu warned that debt does not pause for election campaigns and that rising interest rates would place a heavy burden on the state, businesses, and households. Lacking an absolute majority in the National Assembly, the executive faces potential budget obstruction from an alliance between left-wing parties and the National Rally. Lecornu argued that passing a budget is essential to ensure that whoever wins the presidential election can govern immediately upon taking office.

Choosing to wait for the presidential election to adopt a budget for 2027 means choosing disorder.

Risks of emergency legislation

If parliament fails to adopt a budget, the government would have to rely on a special emergency law to roll over the previous year's tax revenues and authorize necessary state expenditures. France utilized short-term special legislation during budget disputes in 2025 and 2026, but the 2027 presidential and legislative elections could extend that provisional regime until autumn 2027. An Inspection Générale des Finances report commissioned in May 2026 and released on 20 August 2026 estimated that a prolonged special law would cost at least 0.5% of GDP. The report stated that an extended rollover would make repairing public finances impossible, whereas an enacted budget can be swiftly amended through supplementary finance bills by the incoming president.

The country would be exposed to certain difficulties and, in some respects, to major risks.

Negotiation timeline and procedures

The government is scheduled to submit the 2027 draft finance bill to the National Assembly on 30 September 2026. Lecornu rejected calls from lawmakers to determine procedural shortcuts in advance, including the use of executive ordinances or Article 49.3 of the French Constitution to bypass parliamentary voting. During the 2026 budget process, the government negotiated a non-censure pact with the Socialist Party in January before using Article 49.3 to pass the bill. Lecornu stated that the government will not rush the process and remains prepared to extend negotiations into early 2027 to build cross-party compromises.

I do not believe it is reasonable, or desirable, to decide today how to bypass a debate that has not yet taken place.

Deficit targets and spending plans

The forthcoming parliamentary debate follows economic targets developed across the summer of 2026. In July 2026, a report by four economists submitted to the Ministry of Economy and Finance identified a 4.9% deficit target as a central baseline. Lecornu plans to target a public deficit of 4.9% of GDP for 2027, compared with the 5.0% target established for 2026. The prime minister also dismissed recent proposals to eliminate student housing assistance (APL), pledging that structural reforms and fiscal adjustments will be debated directly in parliament.