Politics. 2026 Budget: Government Considers Spending Freeze
Will France experience a blank year without increased spending? The government has not ruled out this option as a way to save money.
In its quest for €40 billion in savings in the 2026 budget, the government is exploring "all avenues," including a spending freeze—a so-called "blank year"—which "has not been ruled out," spokesperson Sophie Primas said Wednesday. "Finding €40 billion is very ambitious," and "all avenues are being explored, with no holds barred," she told franceinfo.
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Including that of a "blank year," renewing spending without taking inflation into account: "This is not a proposal that has been ruled out; it must be considered like the others," she declared. It is, moreover, "a hypothesis that the Senate is working on," whose proposals the government "will listen to carefully," the minister emphasized.
Less support in case of cancer remission?The upper house will indeed unveil its recommendations "at the beginning of July," and its president , Gérard Larcher, believes that "a budget freeze can be implemented intelligently," without touching "the sovereign, which must remain outside the budget." This view is shared by Sophie Primas, particularly in matters of defense, where "we must follow the military programming law (which) is one of the data for the 2026 budget, but also for 2027 (and) up to 2030."
However, the government is "obviously looking at the major items of state expenditure", but also at those in the "social sphere" where health insurance predicts an explosion in its deficit and recommends drastic remedies such as the end of 100% coverage in the event of cancer remission or a bonus-penalty system for the prevention of absenteeism in companies .
"For the moment, these are proposals made by the Health Insurance in light of the slippage in health spending. There is then a political arbitration," the spokesperson eluded, referring the decision to her colleague in charge of Social Affairs, Catherine Vautrin , who "will make announcements in the next two days." Prime Minister François Bayrou must unveil his proposals for reducing public deficits after July 14, before the presentation of the 2026 budget project, the parliamentary examination of which in the autumn promises to be perilous, with a high risk of censure .
Le Républicain Lorrain
