Budget: CPME also expresses its concern

In a press release, the Confederation of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (CSAE) welcomed the resumption of the reduction in the CVAE, a production tax, which began in 2021 but was suspended in 2024 and 2025. The reduction is expected to resume in 2026, with the CVAE being completely abolished in 2028. However, it considers the decision to impose "more than 10 billion euros of new taxes and duties" on businesses and entrepreneurs in the draft finance law (PLF) to be "incomprehensible."

This, she points out, comes as "business failures reached their highest level since 2009 in September," according to the quarterly study by Altares published this week.

The CPME also criticizes the budget's impact on labor costs, believing that it "weakens both businesses and the purchasing power of employees." It also points to specific measures for overseas territories that "further weaken already hard-hit territories."

The organization believes that "France will not resolve its imbalances without reducing the state's standard of living."

Regarding the suspension of pension reform, the CPME says it understands the search for political compromise that is behind it, but warns: "To suggest that we can work less and save our pension system is to lie to the French people."

Finally, the confederation calls on the government and parliamentarians to "make responsible choices" to "promote production and investment in France" and "simplify the lives of businesses."

Already on Tuesday, the Medef (French employers' association), the main employers' organization, had expressed "great concern" after Sébastien Lecornu's general policy statement, warning of "the risk of the country being downgraded."

Afep, a lobby group representing the largest French companies, had judged that the budget announcements were "in opposition to the priorities of large companies" and that they "hinder their ability to invest, to produce in France and internationally, to support employment and thus to contribute to collective prosperity."