The Senate completed its examination of the draft Social Security budget for 2026 on the evening of Tuesday to Wednesday, November 26, reducing the “Secu” deficit to 17.6 billion euros according to the government, a figure almost the same as the executive’s initial target.
The upper house, which is dominated by the right wing, will vote on the entire Social Security financing bill on Wednesday afternoon and will approve it without difficulty because it is clear that the majority already has a majority. A joint committee bringing together deputies and senators will convene at 7.30pm, and this, barring any major surprises, will end in failure, sending the text back to be read to the National Assembly next week.
After a week of debate in the Senate, the upper house clearly revised the deputies’ copy, increasing the “Secu” deficit to around 24 billion euros in 2026. “Ultimately, the balance of the basic Social Security scheme in 2026, resulting from the debate in the Senate, will amount to 17.6 billion euros, a level very close to the 17.5 billion euros stated in the government’s initial text”summarized Health Minister Stéphanie Rist at the end of the session.
The “Secu” budget is under high political tension
The senators have set exactly this goal, without hesitation to return to the important measures added to the National Assembly, such as the CSG increase in capital, which was obtained by the left. They also reintroduced a number of abolished policies, such as freezing social benefits and pensions, with the exception of pensions under 1,400 euros. Or the application of additional fees to mutual insurance companies.
Most importantly, they rejected the suspension of pension reform, a major concession from Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu to the Socialists to avoid censorship. Senators also voted for a measure that increased annual work hours by twelve hours. After estimating it at two billion euros in recent days, the government finally revised its estimate, estimating that much “will not lead to a mechanical increase in working hours effective from 2026”.
“In a few days, we lost a lot”smilingly pointing to the centrist general rapporteur, Elisabeth Doineau, lamented that the executive was sticking to it “according to the letter of the system, not to its spirit”. According to him, the “Secu” deficit could even be reduced by an additional three billion – and thus fall below 15 billion – by taking into account the reform of the economic system. “general assistance” burden on businesses, which was voted on last year. But this will depend on a vote on the state budget bill, which is examined starting Thursday in the Senate.
