The Constitutional Council approves the core of the 2026 budget, the final step before its promulgation.

The Constitutional Council "validates the procedure for adopting the law, declares the essential provisions to be in conformity with the Constitution", the institution announced in a statement.

The Constitutional Council, seized with four appeals from the Prime Minister, the Socialist Party, the National Rally, and members of parliament from La France Insoumise, the Green Party, and the Democratic and Republican Left (Communists and overseas territories), did not censure any article on its merits but rejected seven, considering that they did not have their place in a budget.

They notably approved, with a reservation regarding interpretation, a controversial provision that excludes non-European and non-scholarship students from receiving personalized housing assistance (APL). Left-wing MPs criticized this article, seeing it as a form of "national preference".

But the judges considered that the MPs pursued an "objective of general interest", by seeking to "control the evolution of expenses related" to housing benefits, and that the principle of equality "does not oppose the legislator regulating different situations differently, nor does it preclude the legislator from derogating from equality for reasons of general interest".

He did, however, issue a reservation regarding interpretation, indicating that the law should be applied taking into account the preamble to the Constitution, which states in particular that "the Nation ensures to the individual (...) the conditions necessary for (his) development" and that it must ensure "adequate means of existence".

In a rare referral, the Prime Minister himself had pointed to three articles before the Constitutional Council, establishing a tax on patrimonial holdings, tightening the Dutreil pact, a tax loophole favoring the transfer of family businesses, or reforming a tax advantage intended to encourage reinvestment of money from a sale of a company.

The Council indicated that its referral did not formulate "any complaint of unconstitutionality against them", and therefore only verified that they had been adopted according to a procedure in accordance with the Constitution, and that no obvious grounds for unconstitutionality emerged from the parliamentary work.

Objective "very uncertain"

The Council also approved another controversial article that places the burden of criminal, correctional and police court costs on convicted adults, while stressing that the judge will have to assess the "proportionality of the burden".

Finally, he approved a much-discussed provision that reserves the possibility of financing their driving licence via the personal training account (CPF) to job seekers only.

This validation of the 2026 budget by the Constitutional Council is the final step before promulgation in the Official Journal, after months of political deadlock.

This is the second consecutive state budget adopted following a difficult compromise, in a political landscape highly charged since the dissolution of the National Assembly decided by President Emmanuel Macron in 2024.

Presented to Parliament in mid-October, the budget was definitively adopted on February 2nd. To achieve this, Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu had to accept significant concessions to the left and renege on his promise not to force it through by invoking the government's responsibility. He ultimately resorted to using Article 49.3 three times.

This adopted budget plans to reduce the public deficit to 5% of GDP in 2026, compared to 5,4% in 2025. It aimed for 4,7% in its initial version.

On the tax front, the government has argued for the stability of the tax framework, even though companies may regret several tax increases compared to the initial version.

The budget also includes selective spending cuts. Defense spending increases by 6,5 billion, while other missions see their budgets stagnate or even decrease, excluding core government ministries.

The government is under intense pressure to reduce the public deficit, the highest in the eurozone, the size of which is worrying financial markets.

The Court of Auditors judged on Thursday that it was "crucial" for France to meet its target of reducing the deficit to 5% by 2026. It considered the 2026 target "still very uncertain", "both in terms of revenue and expenditure, due to a lack of structural reforms with lasting effects".

Illustrative image of the article via Depositphotos.com.