Following the Senate's adoption of its revised 2026 finance bill favoring spending cuts, the joint parliamentary committee (CMP) set for Friday appears headed for deadlock due to government-LR Senate clashes. PM Sébastien Lecornu eyes a special law as backup, blaming Republican 'radicalism,' while Socialists quietly favor Article 49.3.
The CMP, uniting seven senators and seven deputies on December 19, seeks to align the National Assembly and Senate versions of the 2026 finance bill (PLF). Tensions escalated after the right-center Senate passed its spending-cut-focused text on December 15, prompting sharp criticism from PM Lecornu.
Irritated by LR group president Mathieu Darnaud's attacks during a Wednesday Senate session, Lecornu vented at a Thursday Matignon dinner with Public Accounts Minister Amélie de Montchalin and budget rapporteurs Philippe Juvin (LR, Assembly) and Jean-François Husson (LR, Senate), warning 'it's going to go nuts' without compromise. His team told AFP and Le Monde that CMP failure would lead to a Council of State-backed special finance law for a minimalist budget by December 31.
Lecornu pins the impasse on 'radicalism' from part of the Les Républicains Senate group. LR Senator Christine Lavarde countered in Le Figaro that a CMP text boosting taxes without savings, likely backed by PS, would struggle in the Senate.
Socialists, after Lecornu's October pledge to avoid Article 49.3 (which aided PLFSS passage), now whisper hopes for its use on the PLF amid left irritants. Ecologists will oppose any compromise text, dooming Assembly passage without 49.3. These 'more political' talks underscore Parliament's fractures.
