"'0 Votes in Favor vs. 458 Against'... France's 85 Trillion Won Austerity Budget Rejected"

The French government's 54 billion euro austerity budget, equivalent to approximately 85.7 trillion won, was rejected in its first reading in the lower house without receiving a single vote in favor. The plan was designed to rein in the country's ballooning budget deficit. Opposition lawmakers and a large number of members of President Emmanuel Macron's ruling party voted against it, dealing a major blow to the government's plan to pass the budget by the end of the year amid political turmoil and mass protests.

AFP-Yonhap News

According to the European edition of Politico and RFI on November 5, the revenue portion of the budget was rejected in a first-reading vote in the lower house the night before, with 458 votes against and two abstentions. The opposition and President Emmanuel Macron's ruling party both voted against it. As a result, debate on the spending portion of the budget did not take place.

The budget is an ambitious spending-cut plan drawn up by Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu to reduce the fiscal deficit to 4.8% of gross domestic product (GDP), excluding increased defense spending, or 5.0% including it. However, in a hung parliament where no party holds a majority, the various political groups submitted a flurry of amendments to individual provisions. The result, analysts say, was a patchwork bill that satisfied neither side. The far-right National Rally (RN) criticized the government for failing to draft a balanced budget, while the far-left La France Insoumise (LFI) condemned it as a budget that did not reflect the people's demands at all.

The budget rejected by the lower house will go to the Senate in its original form, with all parliamentary amendments discarded, and deliberations will begin on November 20. The social security budget was also rejected by the lower house, after which the government's original proposal went directly to the Senate. The Prime Minister's Office plans to resume debate in the lower house in December, after the Senate's review, but it is unclear whether the budget will pass by the end of the year. Meanwhile, large-scale strikes and street protests by labor unions, students, and civic groups opposing austerity measures and the deterioration of public services are continuing, and opposition to cuts in social welfare spending is growing.

If the two houses ultimately fail to reach an agreement, the government may again invoke Article 49.3 of the Constitution, a special provision that allows it to pass legislation without a parliamentary vote. Lecornu initially emphasized cooperation with the opposition when he took office, but has previously resorted to this provision when negotiations broke down. However, bypassing the lower house in this way could prompt the opposition to file a no-confidence motion against the government, potentially bringing down the cabinet and triggering severe political turmoil. Foreign media have also reported that the government may consider bypassing parliament and imposing the budget through executive orders, but this would be an extreme measure with few precedents in modern French history.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.