POLITICS – The deadline is approaching. By October 1st at the latest, the draft finance bill for 2025 must be submitted to the National Assembly. Before that, the text must go through the Council of State, the High Council of Public Finances and then be validated by the Council of Ministers. That’s the theory. Because in practice, France has neither a Prime Minister nor a fully-fledged government.
On the public deficit, Bruno Le Maire points the finger at local elected officials… who respond to him
Still no white smoke from the Élysée, where Emmanuel Macron continues his consultations. While waiting for a ministerial team that can make political decisions, the administrations currently in office are prioritizing technical choices. With all the limits that such a balancing act entails, as the boundaries are so blurred.
The question now arises: can Emmanuel Macron, in view of this instability, decide to postpone the date of the budget review? Legally, he has the right to do so. According to The Worldthe executive is seriously studying the possibility. Which, the daily stresses, would be a first in recent history. In fact, no one knows if the next government will be appointed by October 1st. And even if it is, will it have even had time to get to work?
The date may therefore be subject to change. The key is to respect the 70 days granted to Parliament to examine the budget, and to leave five days for the Constitutional Council to study possible appeals (numerous in recent years). Two sources report that Monde that a budget can thus be postponed“a week, or even a fortnight after October 1st”. This is confirmed by the General Secretariat of the Government (SGG). But no more, at the risk that the year 2026 will begin without a financial framework.
“This is unacceptable”
Matignon nevertheless rejected the hypothesis on September 2, assuring AFP that the deadline of October 1 would be met. “This is not a decision of the current government”whispers Gabriel Attal’s entourage, while specifying that the future government will be able to submit a budget until mid-October, “if it wishes”: “On the contrary, we have prepared everything technically so that the government can arbitrate quickly and submit its budget within the time limits provided for by the organic law”.
The only problem: the probable tension among parliamentarians. “By dint of procrastination, the President of the Republic is doing whatever he wants, The PS president of the Senate finance committee, Claude Raynal, is furious with Public Sénat. This is unacceptable in principle.” The senator from Haute-Garonne believes that “the organic laws are his” [Emmanuel Macron] to defend them. Certainly not to sit on them.” In the meantime, the President is busy finding a Prime Minister who can, as soon as he takes office, tackle the budget and get the country out of the period of cacophony and uncertainty in which it has been plunged for several weeks. Between the skid and the European procedure for excessive deficit, time is running out.
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