French Assembly Rejects 2027 Budget Revenue Section 458-0, Sending Original Text to Senate; Deficit Target at 5%
PARIS — France's National Assembly on Wednesday, November 4, rejected the revenue section of the 2027 finance bill at first reading, with 458 deputies voting against, none in favor and two abstaining. Under parliamentary rules, rejection of the revenue section voids the entire bill in the lower house, and the government will send the Senate its original, unamended text.
The official voting record shows the 458 votes against came from across party lines. Over about two weeks of debate, deputies had heavily rewritten the government's text, removing a planned cut to the tax allowance for pensioners, cuts to local authority budgets and an extra tax on large companies, and adopting a string of amendments; the rewritten text ultimately won no support.
Under the legislative timetable, the Senate will begin examining the government's original text on November 20, with the revenue articles due for examination on November 23, and the two chambers will then negotiate toward a final text before the end of the year. Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu's plan calls for bringing the public deficit down to 5 percent of gross domestic product in 2027, from an expected 5.4 percent this year, a fiscal effort of roughly 54 billion euros.
The vote came on the eve of a nationwide general strike. French media note that the Lecornu government may now resort to Article 49.3 of the Constitution to push the budget through, a move that would expose it to a fresh no-confidence vote.
Source: National Assembly of France
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：法国国民议会所在地巴黎波旁宫。Wikimedia Commons，公共领域。 / Photo: The Palais Bourbon in Paris, seat of France's National Assembly. Wikimedia Commons, public domain.
