PM Lecornu opens political season as French government returns from summer break
The day begins at the Élysée Palace with a Cabinet meeting devoted entirely to the start of the new school year, before ministers move to a wing of the Hôtel des Invalides for a closed-door session expected to run into the afternoon.
The venue, home to the General Secretariat for Defence and National Security (SGDSN), was chosen in part to allow ministers to review the wave of cyberattacks that hit French public institutions over the summer, including breaches affecting the tax authorities and the Education Ministry.
Those incidents prompted Lecornu to call for a “stronger response” from the administration.
Mobile phones will not be allowed inside the meeting, which will then turn to the government's main concern – the 2027 Finance Bill, due to be presented at the end of September.
Ministers are also expected to discuss the parliamentary timetable, government communications and the increasingly difficult situation facing the agricultural sector.
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New spending pressures pile up
French farmers have been hit hard by three months of wildfires, heatwaves and drought, adding to the government's list of urgent spending commitments.
In an interview with Le Parisien, Lecornu described agriculture as “the top priority for the new parliamentary term”, promising a “rescue plan” before the end of the year followed by a broader “recovery plan” from 2027.
Those measures will have to be incorporated into a budget that is already under considerable strain.
The government has pledged an additional €10 billion for several ministries, including Defence, the Interior, Justice, Education, Research and the Environment. It may also have to extend fuel subsidies and the energy voucher scheme.
At the same time, the economic outlook is weakening.
Economy Minister Roland Lescure is tasked with setting out the scale of the challenge, with sluggish growth in the first half of the year making the government's annual forecast of 0.7 percent increasingly difficult to achieve.
Borrowing costs are also rising sharply, with interest rates above 4 percent increasing the cost of servicing France's debt.
The result is a growing risk that the public deficit could exceed the government's target of 5 percent of gross domestic product.
Lecornu has further narrowed his room for manoeuvre by ruling out cuts to social housing and apprenticeships. He has also said he does not want to renew the surtax on large companies “in its current form”.
Instead, the prime minister wants to curb social spending through a series of reforms.
These include changes to sick leave, ending reimbursement for some medicines considered “old” or “outdated” and, most controversially, limiting pension increases so they rise more slowly than inflation, while protecting the lowest pensions.
French budget: PM Lecornu faces high-stakes social security vote
Opposition lines up against the budget
The proposals have already triggered fierce opposition.
Hard left leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon has said his France Unbowed party will vote the budget down, while National Rally president Jordan Bardella has warned that his party is ruling nothing out.
Among declared candidates for the 2027 presidential election, former prime minister Edouard Philippe has taken a more conciliatory line, calling on “all political leaders” to support the Social Security budget – although he stopped short of making the same appeal for the state budget.
The government therefore faces a serious risk that no agreement will be reached before the end of the year, potentially leaving France without an approved budget until the presidential election.
The Treasury estimates that such a scenario could cost around €15 billion.
Lecornu is hoping to avoid that by persuading opposition parties to back what he has called a “first-half budget” – a temporary settlement that could later be revised by whichever political majority emerges after the presidential election.
Failing that, the prime minister has warned of “chaos” that could push France into “an extremely serious situation” financially.
That language has irritated the Socialists, with whom Lecornu negotiated last year to avoid a no-confidence vote.
Boris Vallaud, leader of the Socialist group in the National Assembly, rejected the prime minister's warning outright.
“Blackmail doesn't work on us,” he said.
With eight months to go before the presidential election, the budget battle will test Lecornu's ability to muster enough parliamentary support to keep his economic programme – and the French government – on track.