In an interview with Le Monde, political science professor Carole Bachelot reviews 2025, marked by the fragility of successive governments, lengthy budget negotiations, and the incarceration of a former president. She attributes the instability less to a conflictual culture than to the centrality of the presidential election. The expert assesses the situation of the Macron camp, the right, and the left amid debates over the 2026 budget.
Carole Bachelot, professor of political science at Université Paris-Panthéon-Assas, co-authored in 2025 the book Introduction to the Sociology of Political Parties with Alexandre Dézé and Florence Haegel, published by De Boeck Supérieur. In her interview, she highlights the strain on institutional stability due to the lack of an absolute majority in the National Assembly.
The year 2025 was eventful in politics. Successive governments showed great fragility, while budget negotiations were especially protracted. A notable event was the incarceration of a former president of the Republic.
Regarding the 2026 budget, Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu could not replicate the success of the vote on social security financing. The latter had shown that compromises were possible with part of the left bloc. However, it led to tension from the right and the central bloc, reluctant to make further concessions on such a symbolically important text.
Tensions between the government and the right-wing Senate, calendar constraints preventing the Assembly from examining the full budget, and the approaching municipal and presidential elections sharpened polarizations, contributing to the deadlock.
Bachelot notes: “The instability may not be so much due to a conflictual culture as to the centrality of the presidential election.” She assesses the Macron camp's weakened position alongside a right and left in reconfiguration amid these budget battles.
