On 19 January 2026, French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu decided to invoke Article 49.3 of the Constitution to pass France's 2026 budget without a vote in the National Assembly. Three days earlier, he had presented the main thrust of the new version of budget, including an increase in the activity bonus and scrapping the cap on contribution relief.
It was with “regret and bitterness” that Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu chose to invoke Article 49.3 to push through the budget during an extraordinary Council of Ministers meeting on the afternoon of 19 January 2026. The move represents a reversal of a pledge made on 3 October last year not to invoke the constitutional mechanism, which allows the government to force through the draft finance bill unless a motion of no confidence is approved.
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