The French government, led by Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu, has effectively acknowledged that it will be impossible to pass the 2026 state budget through a traditional parliamentary vote. The reason for this is the ongoing sabotage by far-left and far-right deputies in the National Assembly.
According to sources in Matignon, due to the systematic blocking of discussions and votes, “it is now impossible to adopt the budget by a normal vote.” The Prime Minister’s office directly accuses deputies from the National Rally (RN) and La France Insoumise (LFI) of deliberately delaying and disrupting the process.
The government is considering two main constitutional instruments to break the deadlock:
Article 49.3 of the Constitution — allows a bill to be passed without a vote, assuming political responsibility (in which case the opposition can initiate a vote of no confidence);
The ordinance procedure (Article 47) — an even tougher option that allows the government to adopt the budget in the form of ordinances, which effectively bypasses parliamentary voting altogether (unprecedented for a finance bill).
The decision on which instrument will be chosen is expected between January 16 and 20, 2026. On Friday, the government promised to present an “evolution of the initial draft” with possible compromise amendments, but most observers believe that the chances of reaching an agreement are minimal.
It is worth noting that at the end of December 2025, parliament passed a temporary “special law” that allowed the extension of 2025 expenditures and tax collection into early 2026, thereby avoiding immediate paralysis of government administration. However, this temporary mechanism does not solve the fundamental problems: without a full-fledged budget, it is impossible to properly plan for growth in defense spending, aid to farmers, and other priority areas mentioned by President Emmanuel Macron.
The political crisis in France has been ongoing for a year and a half, since the presidential party lost its absolute majority in the 2024 early elections. During this time, budget battles have led to the resignation of three prime ministers.
Experts warn that if the government does resort to ordinances, it will be the most radical circumvention of parliament in the modern history of the Fifth Republic and could seriously undermine confidence in democratic institutions. Final adoption of the budget (in any format) is now not expected before the first half of February 2026.