Paris (France) (AFP) – Swept by the National Assembly, the budgetary texts are examined from Monday in the Senate, a chamber dominated by the right which intends to demonstrate "responsibility" in the face of finances at half mast, without knowing whether the executive will choose 49.3 or the ordinances for its budget.

Published on: 09/11/2026 - 01:16

From one room to another, waiting for an impossible compromise... The budget marathon stops at the Palais du Luxembourg for several weeks. The draft Social Security budget for 2027 is debated from Monday until November 18. That of the State will then follow, from November 20 to December 9.

As the fall progressed, the equation remained insoluble for Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu, faced with an absence of a parliamentary majority, coupled with growing social distrust and a "French economy at a standstill", in the words of the Minister of the Economy Roland Lescure after the announcement of a falling GDP in the third quarter.

The senators could, however, offer the executive a slight breath of fresh air: a solid alliance between the right and the centrists holds the majority in the upper house and it has become accustomed to adopting budgets in recent years, not without putting some markers on pensions, support for businesses or even the preservation of local communities.

The President of the Senate, Gérard Larcher (Les Républicains) has called in recent days in Le Figaro for "a collective start" to "bring us back to a path of balance which makes us credible, not only vis-à-vis the markets but also vis-à-vis ourselves".

The government is delaying

Privately, the tenor of the right does not hide his fears of "financial crisis" and wants the Senate to send "a message of responsibility" during the period.

A way, too, of distinguishing itself from the National Assembly, where the State and Social Security budgets were in turn completely unraveled before being massively rejected at first reading.

Many deputies expressed their weariness and the benches in the government camp sometimes seemed very empty.

The executive plays the patience card. Much less involved in the debates than last year, when he negotiated his survival with the socialists, Sébastien Lecornu is procrastinating, Matignon having made an appointment in "December" to search for a hypothetical compromise.

Several paths are available to him: taking responsibility via article 49.3, which exposes him to censorship, or, if the debates get bogged down, the route of ordinances, an unprecedented procedure which a priori prevents him from modifying his initial text to add, for example, measures of support for the high school movement.

“Avoid prescriptions”

Despite the uncertainty, the Senate hopes to weigh in on the final copy. “Our responsibility is to ensure that we can avoid ordinances” by obtaining “some gains” that can be integrated into the final copy via 49.3, says LR president of the Social Affairs Committee Philippe Mouiller. “Our mission is to legislate and vote on a budget,” he continues.

The upper house has notably set itself the objective of respecting the target of a public deficit of 5% of GDP in 2027. On the Social Security budget from Monday, it will also try to follow the government's ambition by reducing the Social Security deficit to 12.7 billion euros, compared to 21.8 in 2026.

The most anticipated debates will focus on pensions, in particular on the proportion of retirees who would see their pensions increased in line with inflation in 2027. The government intends to contribute to all pensions above 1,260 euros per month... The Senate could raise the threshold.

Another senatorial proposal, as flammable as it is symbolic: the reinstatement of the pension reform, suspended last year.

A minority in the Senate, the left intends to "fight" these budgetary texts: socialist senator Annie Le Houérou, in charge of the Social Security budget, criticizes to the AFP a "copy of an unnamed weakness", worries about the "additional irritants" promised by the right and promises to "defend an alternative taking into account the needs of the population", particularly on access to care and hospital expenses.

© 2026 AFP

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