MEPs deleted the introductory article, containing the obligatory table of forecasts of expenditure and revenue

The budgetary marathon continues in the National Assembly. On Wednesday, November 5, the deputies continued the examination of the Social Security budget, which began the day before. The Social Security financing bill (PLFSS) contains particularly sensitive measures such as the suspension of the pension reform but also several other explosive changes. Lhe deputies began the substantive debates by deleting the introductory article, the obligatory table of Social Security expenditure and revenue forecasts for 2025 and 2026. A first vote that is inherently political, but close. The RN, the Insoumis, the Ciottists and the Communists voted for its suppression, the Socialists mainly voted to maintain it, and the environmentalists abstained. Follow our live stream.

“Without control, the system would end up burning itself out,” according to the Minister of Health. This is what Stéphanie Rist declared at the opening of the debates in the presence of Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu, asking for a “collective effort”. The government has planned massive savings to reduce the Social Security deficit to 17.5 billion in 2026, compared to 23 this year. The left denounces “a museum of horrors”and the RN one “fancy copy and paste” from an initial project by François Bayrou.

The government says it sees “possible compromises emerging”. Amélie de Montchalin, the Minister of Public Accounts, said this on Tuesday during the question session with the government. “We will be very open to supporting fair, proportionate and effective measures”specifies the minister. According to her, “in the end, we can get there if everyone wants to get there.”

The National Rally will launch a commission of inquiry in the National Assembly. “We must control expenditure and revenue, but we must also, and it is high time to do so, control financial flows and the internal management of Social Security. This has never been done”launched the RN deputy for Bouches-du-Rhône Joëlle Mélin on Tuesday during the budgetary debates in the hemicycle.