What is the purpose of the special law, which the government wants to adopt in the face of the blockage on the finance bill?

The lack of agreement between deputies and senators on the budget on Friday forced us to present this minimalist text to avoid paralysis of the State on January 1st. It will be examined on Monday in the Council of Ministers.

History repeats itself. While the joint committee failed, Friday, December 19, to find a compromise on the finance bill (PLF) for 2026, the government is preparing to have Parliament adopt a special law, which will make it possible to temporarily finance the State and administrations despite the absence of a budget. A legislative “crutch” used for the second year in a row: in 2024, this solution was drawn up after the censorship of Michel Barnier’s government, which had already prevented a budget from being adopted on time.

Permitted by section 45 of the organic law relating to finance laws, the special law authorizes the State to collect taxes and public resources necessary to finance essential public expenditure. In short, it helps avoid paralysis, or as the Americans call it, “shutdown”. In the United States, federal agencies cannot spend or commit funds without prior authorization from Congress. In the absence of a budget, hundreds of thousands of civil servants find themselves unemployed.

In 2024, the special law promulgated after the fall of Michel Barnier to avoid this catastrophic scenario was divided into four concise articles. A first to authorize the State to collect existing taxes, a second to secure the revenue of local authorities, and the last two to authorize the State and social security organizations to borrow on the financial markets. This year, Parliament having agreed to adopt the Social Security financing bill (PLFSS), the fourth and final part will not be necessary. In parallel with the special law, a decree should also renew state spending on the basis of the 2025 budget.

If the Prime Minister, Sébastien Lecornu, has not formally announced that he would use this special law, it should be studied on Monday. “The Council of State will be seized of a special bill”, confirmed his entourage to franceinfo on Friday. Emmanuel Macron will then have to convene a Council of Ministers, during which the special bill will be presented. This is to be held Monday evening, upon the president’s return from a trip to the United Arab Emirates. Discussed in an accelerated procedure, the text will then be examined in committee, then in public session, in the National Assembly then in the Senate. “By Tuesday, it will be completed”assures the entourage of the head of government.

Parliamentarians will be able to table and vote on amendments to modify the bill, a much more succinct text than a real draft budget. At the end of 2024, during the examination of the previous special law, the socialists had adopted the amendment allowing the inclusion in the text “levies on state revenues intended for local authorities”. This time, the president (LFI) of the Assembly’s finance committee, Eric Coquerel, plans to table several amendments, one of which would aim to index the income tax scale to inflation, to prevent certain taxpayers from falling into a higher tax bracket, franceinfo learned, confirming information from the Echoes. Last year, tax amendments of this type were, however, rejected by the President of the National Assembly.

If the special law makes it possible to avoid the paralysis of the State, the Ministry of the Economy specifies on its website that it “does not replace the budget”. Budgetary discussions will therefore have to resume in the National Assembly and the Senate from the start of 2026. Launching the year without a budget is not without risks. “From January 1, all investments will be frozen. All state grants paid to communities will be frozen, this will postpone projects. The impact is real on the economy,” detailed a minister on Friday to franceinfo. The Minister of Housing, Vincent Jeanbrun, confirmed on Sunday that the MaPrimeRénov’ counter would be closed on January 1, and would only reopen if a budget was adopted and provided credits for this system.

Sunday evening, the Minister of Public Accounts, Amélie de Montchalin, provided some additional examples, on BFMTV. “It’s a minimum service. We ensure three things: we pay our civil servants, we ensure the vital security of the country and we pay our creditors.” But in the absence of budget, “we suspend everything that is not essential”she added, taking the example of “investment support”of “business support”of “supporting farmers in the slaughter crisis” or even investments in defense. Citing the launch of work on the new French aircraft carrier, confirmed on Sunday by Emmanuel Macron, the minister ensures that“we cannot sign the first studies if we do not have a real budget”.