Politics. 2026 Budget: Amélie de Montchalin wants "a pause" on certain expenses
Public Accounts Minister Amélie de Montchalin said on Wednesday that she was in favour of pausing certain public spending as part of the 2026 budget.
The Minister of Public Accounts is looking at spending rather than revenue to make savings. Photo: Christian Liewig/Sipa
The government is flooded with ideas and positions aimed at finding €40 billion in savings in the 2026 budget. On Wednesday, it was the Minister of Public Accounts who proposed curbing spending. "I think there will be a pause on certain expenses," Amélie de Montchalin said on Sud Radio, when asked about a possible "blank year" advocated by parliamentarians, which would consist of freezing pensions, social benefits, and the income tax scale for one year by not indexing them to inflation.
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"I think that in the current situation," with a public deficit expected to reach 5.4% of GDP in 2025, then 4.6% in 2026, well outside the European targets, "slowing down spending is essential," she continued. "Everyone can see that there are expenses we can no longer afford."
Asked whether a "gap year" was a good idea, the minister replied that "it depends on what you apply it to," emphasizing that "there are many ways to do it." "Is it on social benefits? Is it on tax scales? Is it on grants to local authorities? Is it on payments and aid to businesses? This year of rest should be more or less long."
"I rule out any tax increase."Amélie de Montchalin, who has said she wants to build a "compromise" budget for 2026, will receive representatives of the National Rally (RN) and Horizons on Wednesday at Bercy, along with Economy Minister Éric Lombard , inaugurating a series of meetings with parliamentary groups on the preparation of budget texts.
As a red line, she stated her opposition to a "generalized" tax increase. "I rule out any general tax increase that would weigh on the middle classes indiscriminately," and "I do not want, I do not propose, and I do not put on the table an increase in VAT rates," she declared.
For Yaël Braun-Pivet, "we cannot immediately exclude any tax increase"
In an interview with Les Échos on Wednesday, the President of the National Assembly, Yaël Braun-Pivet (Renaissance), said that "we cannot ignore revenue and immediately rule out any tax increases" for the 2026 budget.
"Making this effort (to find €40 billion) solely through savings on public spending is unrealistic. It does not correspond to the objective of fairness that must be ours. We cannot ignore revenues and immediately exclude any tax increase," argues the elected representative of Yvelines, according to whom "we must prioritize measures that have the least possible impact on growth." Yaël Braun-Pivet also says she is "in favor of the principle of a blank year," which could even, "depending on the evolution of inflation (...) be considered beyond 2026."
The government, lacking a majority in Parliament, intends to find 40 billion euros in savings for next year's budget, and Prime Minister François Bayrou has promised to unveil a roadmap in mid-July, before the presentation of the draft budget, the examination of which in the autumn promises to be perilous for the government's survival.
Le Journal de Saône-et-Loire
