French Assembly Unanimously Rejects the 2027 Budget as Deficit Fight Hits Bond Markets

Nobody in France's lower house wanted to own the 2027 budget. Late on Wednesday night, the National Assembly voted down the revenue half of the bill by 458 to zero, with two abstentions, and took the whole first reading down with it.

It was a rare moment of unanimity in a deeply split parliament, and it had nothing to do with agreement. Emmanuel Macron's camp and the opposition both voted against a heavily amended text that no side recognized as its own. The spending section fell along with it.

How one vote sank the whole bill

The mechanics are unforgiving. Under article 119 of the Assembly's rules, if deputies fail to adopt the first part of the finance bill, the entire bill is considered rejected on first reading.

The government's original draft now goes to the Senate, where debate is due to begin around November 20. Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu's office says the time for compromise will come after the Senate reading, working from the initial draft and the senators' version. The Assembly had already rejected the social security budget, which covers pensions and health care, and that bill is heading to the Senate too.

The numbers nobody would sign

The government wants to bring the deficit down to 5% of GDP next year, from 5.1% in 2025. Budget Minister David Amiel warned that the version amended by deputies would have pushed it to 5.9%. Politico puts the savings pressure at around 43 billion euros, while Lecornu in September targeted spending cuts worth 54 billion euros ($61.8 billion), according to CNBC.

Those cuts were always going to be a hard sell. Paris already saw the problem in the growth data last week, when Finance Minister Roland Lescure warned that without a turnaround France was headed straight for a wall as the economy shrank. Now that wall has reached the chamber, and no majority is willing to put its name to the arithmetic.

Investors are watching closely. French debt hit 115.6% of GDP in 2025, and government bonds have been under pressure over the deficit. The vote also landed a day before nationwide strikes, with the economy stagnating.

Special powers on the horizon

Lecornu still has no majority, as no government has had since the 2024 snap election left parliament hung. Successive prime ministers have relied on Article 49.3 of the constitution to force budgets through without a vote, at the risk of a no-confidence motion. Another route would be passing the budget by ordinance, something no government has done in the Fifth Republic.

Analysts told CNBC the rejection was expected and that the government is likely to reach for special powers later. The budget is not dead. It has simply left the one chamber where nobody would vote for it.

Some offers on this page may be paid placements or contain affiliate links.