France's fractured parliament debated an emergency bill to prevent a U.S.-style government shutdown after 2026 budget talks collapsed. The short-term measure uses 2025 tax and spending levels to keep public services and local funding running while lawmakers craft a full budget. Despite deep splits among the National Rally, left-wing groups and Macron's centrists, the bill is expected to pass and proceed to the Senate. Officials warn this is only a stopgap — the tougher challenge is producing a credible 2026 budget and reducing the deficit toward 5%.
France Scrambles To Avert U.S.-Style Shutdown as 2026 Budget Talks Collapse
Parliament members sit as France's National Assembly vote on a national health care budget that would suspend Macron's unpopular pension reform raising the retirement age, in Paris, France, Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)
PARIS — France's divided parliament debated an emergency bill Tuesday intended to prevent a U.S.-style government shutdown next week after negotiations on the 2026 budget broke down.
With only days left before the new year, President Emmanuel Macron and his Cabinet met Monday night to unveil the short draft law. The measure, the Cabinet said, is designed "to ensure the continuity of national life and the functioning of public services," including collecting taxes and distributing funds to local authorities based on tax receipts and spending levels from the 2025 budget.
Members of the National Assembly, the lower house of the French parliament, made several amendments to the proposal and were expected to vote on it late Tuesday before sending it to the Senate. Officials say the bill is likely to pass despite deep divisions between Marine Le Pen's far-right National Rally, left-wing groups and Macron's centrist minority government.
Stopgap, Not a Solution
Lawmakers and analysts warn that the emergency measure is a temporary fix. The harder task will be crafting a full 2026 budget and avoiding a renewed political crisis that could further undermine investor confidence.
"We need a budget as fast as possible so that we can move on," Finance Minister Roland Lescure told BFM television. "The longer (the temporary budget) lasts, the more it costs."
France faces high public spending driven by generous social welfare programs, health care and education, alongside a heavy tax burden that still falls short of covering those costs. Macron has set a target to reduce the deficit toward 5% to reassure markets after months of political deadlock sparked by his decision to call snap elections last year.
Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu — who resigned and was reappointed this fall — was expected to make a public statement on the budget situation later Tuesday. His minority government recently secured narrow approval of a key health care budget bill, but that concession came at the price of suspending Macron's flagship pension reform, which aimed to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64.
The emergency bill buys time, but Brussels, investors and French municipalities will be watching closely as lawmakers move from a temporary continuity law toward the far more difficult task of delivering a credible 2026 budget.
