French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu, recently reappointed after resigning, must submit a draft budget bill by October 13 to have a chance of passing it through a divided parliament by the end of the year.
He needs to present the draft first to the cabinet and then to parliament, which requires appointing key ministers for finance, budget, and social security by that date.
If he misses this deadline, lawmakers will lose the constitutionally allotted 70 days to debate and pass the budget. The Constitutional Court also requires eight days for legislation review.
Lecornu has sent a draft budget to France’s fiscal watchdog for review but has not shared its details. He aims to reduce the budget deficit next year to between 4.7% and 5% of economic output, which is higher than his predecessor’s 4.6%target.
He has ruled out a 2% tax on wealth over 100 million euros but plans to raise taxes on the rich in other ways. If Lecornu faces a no-confidence vote, emergency legislation may be needed to authorize spending and taxation until a full budget is passed.
France previously used such measures last December after the former government’s budget was invalidated.
With information from Reuters