The French left has little to win by bailing Macron bailout

Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu makes little progress in his attempt to sew a budget in 2026 in the fractious of the Parliament of France. Lecornu, who has not yet trained government more than two weeks after his appointment, held another meeting on September 24 with the management of the main French unions. However, the Prime Minister seems little willing to make substantial concessions to the left on taxation and social policy. This will probably complicate the Prime Minister’s efforts to take a budget with the support of the Socialist Party, a crucial block of pivot in the lower chamber.

“The Prime Minister did not give any clear response” to the requests of the unions, said journalists Marylie Leon, the first secretary of the CFDT center-left. “We have already left twice [to speak with Lecornu] In 10 days and he had nothing to say to us, “said Sophie Binet, head of the left CGT, on France 2 later that evening, referring to the two cycles of talks with the head of government since his appointment in mid-September.

Union leadership can indicate a wave of popular support while negotiating a budget compromise which includes taxation on ultra-riche and the protection of public services. After a successful day of marches and strikes on September 18, while between 500,000 and a million demonstrators went down to the streets in cities and cities across the country, the unions hope to go up the pressure with a new day of action on October 2.

President Emmanuel Macron called on Lecornu as Prime Minister on September 9, the day after the government of François Bayrou. However, the new Prime Minister is on a firmer land than his predecessor, because he seeks to preserve Macron’s pro-business agenda and gain support for a 2026 cost reduction budget. The centrist block of France warns that the country is at the dawn of a budgetary crisis, with a budget deficit which should reach 5.4% of GDP in 2025 or more, the current record in the euro zone. However, with just over 200 deputies, the minority coalition is much lower than 289 votes that need a majority in the National Assembly.

Over the past two weeks, Lecornu has emphasized the conclusion of a “non-censorship” agreement with the Particitory Center-Left (PS), to allow its coalition to spend a budget. In exchange, the socialists – taking their requests to those who come from union leadership – have a new taxation on large fortunes and high income employees, a smaller set of expenses associated with state investments and a retirement on the increase in the age of the pension promulgated in 2023 on strong public opposition leaders.

Socialist deputy Arthur Delaporte said The nation: “We have clearly exposed our terms and we intend to see that they are respected, whether on the subject of budgetary justice and to protect the workers’ classes or to reform retirement. We also refuse to register for everything that yields even more land to the extreme right.”

Until now, the only concrete concession in Lecornu has been Bayrou’s unpopular proposal to remove two holidays in order to raise tax and pay tax receipts. If he fails to give more to coax the PS, he could try to win the support of Marine Le Pen and her extreme right block. However, Macron’s paralyzing unpopularity acts as a constant deterrence of all opposition forces.

The Socialist Party is impatient to keep its bases covered and not to be seen in front of its base and the parts of the new popular front front, the progressive alliance which ended in first place in the elections of three in SNAP in the summer of 2024. Without the support of the centrist CFDT, for example, it would be politically devastating that the PS is seen to support the macronist center.