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France Races to Avoid US-Style Shutdown12/23 06:03
France's fractured parliament is debating an emergency bill Tuesday designed
to prevent a U.S.-style government shutdown next week, after negotiations on a
2026 budget collapsed.
PARIS (AP) -- France's fractured parliament is debating an emergency bill
Tuesday designed to prevent a U.S.-style government shutdown next week, after
negotiations on a 2026 budget collapsed.
With just days left before the new year, President Emmanuel Macron and his
Cabinet met Monday night to present the brief draft law. It aims "to ensure the
continuity of national life and the functioning of public services," including
collecting taxes and disbursing them to local authorities based on tax and
spending levels in the 2025 budget, the Cabinet said.
Lawmakers in the National Assembly, the French parliament's powerful lower
house, made several amendments to the bill and are expected to vote on it late
Tuesday, followed by the Senate. It is likely to pass despite deep divisions
among the assembly's three main camps -- Marine Le Pen's far-right National
Rally, left-wing forces and Macron's centrist minority government.
The next step will be harder: building a real budget for 2026, and averting
a new political crisis.
Macron is desperate to bring down the huge deficit to 5% and bring back
investor confidence in France's economy after protracted political deadlock and
turmoil prompted by his ill-fated decision to call snap elections last year.
"We need a budget as fast as possible so that we can move on," Finance
Minister Roland Lescure said Tuesday on BFM television. "The longer (the
temporary budget) lasts, the more it costs."
France has a high level of public spending driven by generous social welfare
programs, health care and education -- and a heavy tax burden that falls short
of covering the costs.
Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu, who resigned then was reappointed this
fall, is expected to make a public address later Tuesday about the budget
situation.
Lecornu's minority government won relief earlier this month when parliament
narrowly approved a key health care budget bill, but at the cost of suspending
Macron's flagship pension reform meant to raise the retirement age from 62 to
64.
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