"It could hurt, and even hurt a lot": François Bayrou's savings may not please anyone

Prime Minister François Bayrou is due to present the 2026 budget this Tuesday at 4 p.m. And the head of government's popularity ratings are not going to improve today. After months of dramatizing the construction of this 2026 budget, François Bayrou will be forced to reveal himself as his government seeks to save €40 billion and Emmanuel Macron has just announced €3.5 billion in additional spending for the army.

"40 billion is just hell," a minister recently confided to RMC . "It can hurt, and even hurt a lot," added a parliamentarian. It's a pain for the wallets of all French people who will have to make new efforts to fill the deficit created by the Covid pandemic , the "Whatever it takes" approach, and the increase in debt interest rates.

Concretely, this could mean less social security cover for long-term sick people, more waiting days for sick leave , less tax credit for certain expenses, fewer public holidays and perhaps more local taxes or fewer public services to compensate for budget cuts by the State and local authorities.

To make the pill easier to swallow and for the sake of justice, François Bayrou could also increase taxes on the richest .

While the secrets remain well-kept, the main idea remains the implementation of a blank year with the freezing of social benefits, the income tax scale and pensions, enough to raise between 5 and 15 billion euros.