the text amended by the Assembly could increase the deficit to 24 billion euros in 2026, warns the Minister of Labor

Jean-Pierre Farandou calls for “the responsibility of all parliamentarians”, and affirms that “when the final copy arrives at the Assembly in December, everyone will have to take a step towards each other”.

“Our objective was to (…) reduce” France’s deficit, but it could worsen in 2026, warns the minister. The day after the interruption of debates in the Assembly on the draft social security budget, the Minister of Labor and Solidarity Jean-Pierre Farandou said he “worried about the deficit” public, estimating that it could reach 24 billion euros in 2026, in an interview at Parisian published Thursday November 13.

What step? “We are missing a lot of savings that we are having difficulty voting for”said the former president of SNCF. He explains that the government wanted to reduce the deficit “from 23 to 17 billion euros”but what“today, according to our latest calculations, we could reach 24 billion”. A figure also given earlier in the day by the general rapporteur of the Social Affairs Committee at the Assembly, Thibault Bazin (LR): if the Social Security draft budget was adopted in its modified version by the Assembly, “we would go from a deficit of 17.5 billion euros” initially planned by the government, to a deficit “around 24.3 billion euros”had encrypted the chosen one.

The draft Social Security budget will be examined by the Senate starting next week, in its version modified by the Assembly. “When the final copy arrives at the Assembly in December, everyone will have to take a step towards each other”added Jean-Pierre Farandou, calling for “the responsibility of all parliamentarians”.