French MPs narrowly voted in favour of the Social Security aspect of France’s 2026 budget yesterday evening (December 9), signalling that Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu’s gamble to open debates on the upcoming law may succeed.
Passing with a vote of 247 MPs to 234 (with 93 abstentions), the bill was backed by Socialist and centrist members of the Assemblée nationale, with the far-left, far-right, and some right-wing MPs voting against it.
Other centrists, including many members of former Prime Minister Edouard Philippe’s Horizons party abstained rather than voting directly against the bill, allowing it to pass despite not being backed by a majority of MPs across the chamber.
The text will now be sent to the Senate once more for the chamber to approve, modify, or reject, before being sent back to the Assemblée nationale for MPs to definitively vote on.
In reality however as MPs have agreed on this version of the text and given they can remove any alterations from Senators before the final vote, this should be a formality provided the MPs do not change their mind in the coming days.
Mr Lecornu praised the passage of the social security bill, and thanked MPs “who support the Government's actions and who, in recent weeks, agreed to work on and then vote for a compromise text – sometimes one that diverged from their own convictions,” in a post on social media site X.
“I also thank the opposition members of parliament, who accepted the principle of compromise but also understood that power is now shared.”
Les trois parties du Projet de loi de financement de la sécurité sociale (PLFSS) pour 2026 – recettes, dépenses, et compte de l’année en cours – ont été adoptées librement, après un débat exigeant, sans 49-3, une première depuis 2022. Ce soir, l’Assemblée nationale a confirmé ce…
Political commentators have called the vote a success for the encumbered government, particularly in managing to persuade the Socialist Party to vote in favour of it despite being in opposition.
However, in gaining Socialist support the government lost the backing of a significant majority of not only right-wing Les Républicains, its former governing allies, but also centrist MPs from its own bloc.
If it cannot win back their support in the coming days, they may choose to actively vote against – as opposed to merely abstain – the final budget.
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Wider budget still under scrutiny
This is because it is less certain whether MPs will agree on the wider 2026 budget (projet de loi de finances or PLF), which focuses on spending outside of France’s Social Security system.
Currently with Senators who will vote on the text on December 15, a mixed group from both chambers will then attempt to come to agreement on the bill before it is passed back to MPs for a final vote on December 23 (note that MPs did not vote in favour of the version of the text sent to the Senate).
If MPs reject the PLF, the Assemblée has until December 31 to pass emergency laws that allow for the country’s financing and spending at 2025 levels to continue at the start of the year, with renewed talks on the budget commencing at the start of 2026.
Alternatively, Mr Lecornu could decide to renege on his earlier commitment and try to force the bill through without a vote using article 49.3.
What changes?
The social security aspect of the 2026 draft budget deals exclusively with the financing and spending of France’s healthcare and welfare.
The bill retains many elements from the original draft submitted by the government in October, however was altered by MPs and Senators during open debates on the matter.
Notably, the bill still predicts a social spending spending deficit of around €19.6 billion, with Mr Lecornu saying failure to pass the budget would have seen this increase to more than €30 billion.
The original, unaltered, government bill would have seen the deficit cut to around €17 billion.
Pension reform suspension
One of the major changes is the suspension of the 2023 pension reform until the 2027 presidential election (officially the reform is suspended until January 1, 2028).
This will see the retirement age frozen at 62 years and 9 months for those born in 1964 and the start of 1965, with the idea that presidential candidates in the 2027 election will make it clear in their manifesto whether they intend to reinstate, modify or scrap the reform.
Temporary suspension of the reform was offered by Mr Lecornu in return for Socialist Party commitments both to abstain from voting against him in earlier attempts to oust him and to retain other elements of the budget.
Sick-note limit
Sick-notes will be limited in how much leave they provide. The first sick-note written by a doctor can offer a maximum one month of leave before a new note is required.
Subsequent notes for the same issue can provide up to two months of sick-leave before needing to be renewed.
More spending on hospitals
In a last-minute addition to secure the vote of left-wing MPs including the Green Party, the government committed to increasing health spending (objectif national des dépenses de l'Assurance maladie or Ondam) by 3%.
Initially, spending increases were to be capped at 1.6%.
In most cases, they will only gain access to this additional amount once they have used up all other parental leave.
They will be paid 70% of their salary in the first month and 60% in the second month while taking this leace.
Higher CSG contributions
CSG (contribution sociale généralisée) taxes will increase from 9.2% to 10.6% on many financial products.
Left-wing MPs wanted an across-the-board increase on the tax, but compromise means that PEL (home purchase savings accounts), real-estate capital gains, assurance vie, and rental income is expected to be excluded from the increase.
However interest from bank savings, dividends, and other capital gains (such as from shares and securities) will see the higher tax rate.
It should raise around €1.5 billion in extra revenue.
Higher taxes on mutuelles
Mutuelle companies that provide top-up insurance will pay around an extra €1 billion in taxes to finance some of the measures.
This may result in a knock-on effect of higher monthly insurance costs for subscribers.
What is not changing?
Arguably as significant as the new measures introduced are those that are not set to change.
Despite being included in the original bill they have either been altered or rejected by MPs or Senators and have been left out of the final text.
Freeze on benefits and pensions
A proposed freeze on social security benefits at 2025 rates, included as part of a wider année blanche or freeze on government spending, was removed from the bill.
This means benefits such as the Aspa will rise alongside inflation, with payments updated from April 1.
A planned freeze to state pension payments was also rejected, meaning both pensions and benefits will increase in line with inflation during 2026.
Inflation is set to be around 0.9%.
Doubling of franchises médicales
The €50 limit on franchises médicales – the amount patients must pay towards medicine, paramedic services and medical transport etc - was set to double to €100 although this was again rejected.
