French PM blames partisanship and presidential hopefuls for budget deadlock

PARIS — French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu blamed partisan cynicism and presidential ambitions for the perilous state of budget negotiations on Monday in his first public remarks since lawmakers overwhelmingly rejected a key portion of next year’s fiscal plans.

“Everyone wants to push their own agenda and fly their ideological flag,” Lecornu said in remarks that bore a distinct similarity to those after his surprise resignation last month (he was eventually reappointed to the job.) “Some political parties and candidates in the upcoming election fundamentally believe that compromise is not compatible with their strategy.”

Just one lawmaker in the National Assembly on Friday voted in favor of the first half of next year’s budget bill, which deals with tax hikes and other revenue-raising measures.

Though a full government shutdown is unlikely — the French government can fall back on a stopgap mechanism that temporarily rolls over the current year’s budget until a new one is adopted — the discord is concerning given Lecornu’s promise to allow lawmakers to debate, amend and vote on a budget as they see fit.

In the wake of the Friday vote, Lecornu said he will host party leaders and representatives of labor and trade organizations for talks on key national priorities, among them agriculture, energy, defense spending and deficit reduction. He also restated next year’s final budget with a projected deficit of under 5 percent of GDP.

The outcome of these talks could lead to “ad hoc” votes in parliament, Lecornu said, to show that a majority of lawmakers can still find common ground in France’s hung parliament. The first of these votes is expected this week and will concern defense spending.

Lecornu is hoping for the budgetary deadlock to be broken with the bill now under review in France’s upper house, the Senate. Lawmakers from both chambers will then convene in a process akin to a U.S.-style conference committee to agree on a joint version of the bill.