France’s 2027 Budget Rejected by 458 Votes to Zero, Leaving Next Step to Senate
Key Facts
France’s National Assembly rejected the revenue section of the 2027 budget bill on November 4 by 458 votes to zero, sending the government’s original text to the Senate without the chamber reviewing the spending section. The National Assembly’s channel, LCP, reported that lawmakers rejected the text resulting from their deliberations on Wednesday evening. Lawmakers therefore did not vote on the entire budget bill, but on its revenue section, while the original text moved to the next stage of the parliamentary process. The vote puts the budget process before the Senate, with debate over revenue and spending still open. The move is significant because the bill is tied to the government’s public-finance plans for 2027, as the country has seen widespread protests over purchasing power.
The day after the vote, marches took place across France, but estimates of turnout differed between authorities and the union. The Interior Ministry said 575,000 people took part in 193 marches on November 5, including 55,000 in Paris. The CGT union estimated the number at about 1.6 million across more than 200 demonstrations. Le Monde reported both figures, noting that the union’s estimate was much higher than the ministry’s. The gap between the two counts shows a wide divergence in estimates of the scale of the movement, while both sides agreed that protests spread to several parts of France.
The demonstrations included unions and students from secondary schools and universities, as well as Yellow Vest protesters and farmers. Le Monde said participants called for better wages and defended the right to protest. The demands came amid the mobilization across the country on November 5, alongside debate over the budget and pressure on purchasing power. According to the Associated Press, turnout estimates that day exceeded the figures recorded at protests on October 17. The agency put the Interior Ministry’s estimate at more than 600,000 people, while the CGT said the number approached 1.6 million across more than 200 demonstrations, exceeding October 17 levels.
The protests affected public services and education on the day of the marches. The Associated Press said about one-third of France’s secondary schools were closed or unable to operate, while the Eiffel Tower was closed and public transport was disrupted in some areas. The agency quoted Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez as saying that 70,000 police officers had been deployed to secure the demonstrations. It added that the Interior Ministry announced the arrest of at least 448 people. These figures offer a picture of the scale of security preparations and disruption accompanying the protest day, alongside the broad turnout cited in the agency’s estimates.
The 2027 budget debate comes against the backdrop of government projections pointing to continued growth in public debt. Le Monde reported, citing government figures, that debt was expected to rise from 119.3% of gross domestic product in 2026 to 121.7% in 2027. The newspaper also reported in September that the government expected a deficit of 5.4% of GDP in 2026 and aimed to reduce it to 5% in 2027. The Finance Ministry estimated that the deficit could reach 6.6% of GDP without measures, and said meeting the target would require finding 54 billion euros. That amount puts the scale of the fiscal effort proposed by the government in the context of its deficit-reduction target, as parliamentary proceedings on the bill continue.
After the Senate’s review, the next steps were expected to include an attempt to reconcile the two chambers. The National Assembly’s channel said the parliamentary deadline for a final decision expires at midnight on December 17, and that the government can resort to decrees if Parliament has not made a decision by then. Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu told Le Figaro that parliamentary debate between the two chambers would run from mid-October until Christmas and could not be shortened, Le Monde reported. The newspaper pointed to continued uncertainty over the budget’s passage and the possibility of limited progress in reducing the deficit during an election year. These milestones leave the budget process open to Senate review and an attempt at reconciliation ahead of the December deadline.