What should be remembered – Tuesday, April 15, François Bayrou gathered his government, parliamentarians, representatives of local authorities as well as unions in order to launch work on the 2026 budget. At the end of this public finance alert committee, the Prime Minister has unveiled the major budget orientations for the coming year, which will be presented this summer. © Antoine Gyori – Corbis/Getty Images – François Bayrou plans to present the 2026 budget before July 14th. Safeguard safeguarded Receiving Budget alerts Eric Lombard, the Minister of Economy, promised a “radically new method” concerning the preparation of the 2026 budget. While that year was adopted with several months late, the government advocates, this time, efficiency. The presentation of the budget for the coming year should take place “before July 14”, committed François Bayrou, in place of September, usually planned by the calendar. And it starts now … Tuesday, April 15, François Bayrou gathered around him his ministers, parliamentarians, representatives of social security organizations, unions and local communities to set the tone for this next budget, which promises to be tight.Eric Lombard has indeed announced the color: France will have to achieve a “additional 40 billion euros” in 2024. The objective? Bring the public deficit to 4.6% of GDP next year, in order to return within 3% by 2029, in accordance with European regulations. The tenant of Bercy even spoke of a “budgetary alert”. For the most part, it should be “savings” and, possibly, an “increase in revenue related to growth,” said the Minister of Economy on Sunday, April 13 on BFMTV. Read also: Budget 2026: The government announces an effort of 40 billion euros, which will drink? François Bayrou insists on the “reindustrialisation” of FranceMardi, after exchanges in camera around the “alert committee”, François Bayrou said the main lines of the 2026 budget. “There are hours of decisive truth and this is one,” said the Prime Minister. According to him, “only an awareness of our fellow citizens” on the budgetary situation can “support a determined action” of recovery of public accounts. The head of government first defended a policy of “return of production and reindustrialisation”. France “lack of means” to finance its policies because “it does not produce enough and does not work enough,” he said. “If our production per capita was in the same range as that of our European neighbors, we would not have a budget deficit,” he continued, adding that he wanted to guarantee France’s “economic vitality”. For this, François Bayrou defends “innovation” and “simplification”. And this, even though the employers are rather firm concerning its participation in the 2026 budget. “There is no question of overloading companies,” warned the Medef upstream of this “alert committee”. It is not necessary to “overwhelm even more companies, which this year support 13 billion euros in additional samples”, warned the president of the employers’ union, Patrick Martin, Tuesday on Franceinfo. Pas of tax increases at the 2026 -François Bayrou budget was clear: “Increasing the levies” to rebalance the public accounts is “untenable”. The Prime Minister prefers him “refoundation of public action”. “We cannot accept that France is the country where we spend the most public money, where we take the most taxes, various taxes and contributions, and which the French unanimously agree that public action does not work,” he regretted. The day before, Eric Lombard, however, announced the sustainability of the differential contribution on the highest incomes (CDHR), applied to the wealthiest households, presented as temporary and which sets a minimum tax rate of 20%. The head of government also recalled the importance of French “independence” in matters of “security and defense”. An “effort of some additional 3 billion” will be necessary for the 2026 defense budget to guarantee the “independence in terms of security and defense” of France and the European Union, he said. “The European Union has the imperious duty to build an autonomous defense”, thanks to “an immense shared effort, necessary on the part of other European countries” in which the “French effort” will be “strengthened,” said the Prime Minister. To read also: Defense: “We already have a consistent budget”, believes François Hollande as for local authorities, François Bayrou had a word for them stressing their essential character even though the suspense hovers on their possible use. In the 2025 budget, their participation effort was finally reduced from 5 billion euros in savings to 2.2 billion euros. The Association of Mayors of France (AMF) invited to the Committee on Tuesday morning declined its presence. It deplores the absence of a “detailed agenda” and “working document” and says refuse to be “the extras of yet another communication sequence”. An absence noticed by the government. “Everyone must show a spirit of responsibility,” said the Minister of Industry, Marc Ferracci, Tuesday morning on France Inter. He also spoke about the French entrepreneurial fabric. “We know that there are ineffective expenses (…) This can be aid to businesses, investment, social benefits that do not reach their objective, etc.”, he said. The day before, on Monday, the main employers’ organizations had an appointment in Bercy in particular to start working on the 2026 budget. The Minister of the Economy said he wanted to “co-construct with companies”. His “much more collegial” method will then be applied with local communities and then, at the end of the week, with employee representatives. Wednesday, April 16, the government will present in the Council of Ministers its budgetary and structural plan in the medium term (PSMT), document presenting the trajectory for the coming years, addressed to the European Commission. Four months after the start of 2025, the government is therefore forcefully tackling the budget of the coming year. Receive our latest news every day, selecting the main news of the day. (tagstotranslate) Budget
