Universal national service removed from the budget in the Senate and on hold

The Senate voted on Thursday, January 16 evening to remove the budgetary appropriations allocated to the deployment of the universal national service (SNU), estimating its generalization “neither possible nor desirable”against the advice of the government which continues to defend this flagship device of Emmanuel Macron despite massive opposition in Parliament. Will an alliance of left and right voices get the better of a Macronist project? This did not make a difference, in any case, during the examination of the youth budget in the Senate.

The senators largely adopted an amendment constructed in a transpartisan manner to eliminate almost the entire SNU budget (100 million euros), choosing to redirect the majority of these credits (80 million euros) to the Sports budget. , down sharply after the Olympic Games. “After five years of experimentation, the SNU does not provide sufficient added value compared to other youth engagement policies to justify its continued deployment”affirmed the socialist rapporteur Eric Jeansannetas. He particularly targeted the difficulty in finding “enough centers to accommodate all young people” and above all the cost “far-reaching” of generalization, estimated between 3.5 and 5 billion euros per year by the Court of Auditors, also very severe.

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A generalization initially planned for 2026

The Minister of Sports and Youth, Marie Barsacq, opposed this deletion, considering “not appropriate to sacrifice the SNU for the benefit of sport”. While acknowledging imperfections, she asserted that a “interministerial working group” will be responsible for proposing “developments for the start of the school year”. In the fall, the Finance Committee of the National Assembly also voted for the elimination of the SNU in the budget, which ensures a very large parliamentary majority for the abandonment of this system…

Unless it passes forcefully via 49.3 or makes concessions, the government will probably have great difficulty maintaining this creation of Emmanuel Macron in its budget. A campaign promise from the Head of State, the SNU, launched in 2019, was to be generalized to 15-17 year olds at the start of the 2026 school year, according to the promises of former Prime Minister Gabriel Attal. It includes a “mission of general interest” and a “cohesion stay” including sporting, cultural and intellectual activities, with days beginning with the “lifting of colors” (flag and national anthem) and wearing a uniform.