Budget referendum: François Bayrou's idea met with skepticism on both the left and the right

The idea put forward by François Bayrou of a referendum on "a comprehensive plan" to reduce deficits , while his government is seeking to save 40 billion euros for next year, was greeted with scepticism on Sunday by the political class, both left and right.

"There's no need for a referendum to show that the French are fed up with tax increases. And the only thing we're asking of the Prime Minister is to finally have the courage to tackle the waste of public money," Laurent Wauquiez, the leader of the Republicans MPs, a party that is nonetheless part of François Bayrou's government coalition, said on France 3.

"We have a Prime Minister who is procrastinating, who is just trying to gain time and who is not making decisions," he lamented.

"It's a comprehensive plan that I want to submit. It will require efforts from everyone, and given the scale it must take, it cannot succeed if the French people do not support it," the Prime Minister justified in an interview given to the Journal du Dimanche and published Saturday evening.

The government, which managed to pass the 2025 state and social security budgets at the beginning of the year, avoiding a series of motions of censure, is now engaged in preparing the 2026 budget.

He estimates he needs to find €40 billion to meet his targets of reducing the public deficit from 5.4% of gross domestic product (GDP) this year to 4.6% next year. For François Bayrou, if his deficit reduction and state reform plan were approved by referendum, it would confer a form of legitimacy.

Enough, he hopes, to make it easier for Parliament to adopt the state and social security budgets. "When you reform through traditional channels, by forcing through, what happens? The country goes on strike, demonstrations follow one after the other," he argued in the columns of the JDD.

However, there is little chance that this will convince the left, which is overwhelmingly opposed to spending cuts and would prefer to increase revenue, particularly by taxing the wealthy and large corporations. Manuel Bompard, the national coordinator of La France Insoumise (LFI), was interviewed on LCI on Sunday, and described the Prime Minister's idea as "crazy."

"What question are you going to ask people? You're going to submit a draft budget to them, you're going to ask them if they're for or against it? But then who will have drawn up this draft budget, François Bayrou himself? You can see that there's nothing democratic about it in general," he denounced.

Aurore Bergé, the Minister for Gender Equality , a member of the presidential Renaissance party, does not necessarily see this as "a way of circumventing Parliament." "It would depend on the question that is asked," she argued on RTL and M6.

On the left, all parliamentary groups voted to censure François Bayrou last winter, except for the Socialists, who thus allowed the government to remain in power. And on the idea of ​​a referendum, their support still seems far from guaranteed. Socialist Party leader Olivier Faure denounced the idea as "rather far-fetched," calling instead for a referendum on pensions.

"I fear that this is a smokescreen and that it will be very difficult to vote yes or no on a budget proposal that involves all sectors, from defense to education, including everything that a budget includes, that is to say, the life of the nation," he argued on BFMTV.

The fact remains that the prerogative to ask the French people for their opinion by referendum belongs only to the President of the Republic, who had been informed of the publication of this interview.

"The Prime Minister is talking about a plan for reforms and savings, and it's difficult to say anything until this plan is presented," a close associate of Emmanuel Macron told AFP soberly on Sunday.

The referendum outlined by François Bayrou would be the first under the Fifth Republic to address budgetary issues. It would appear politically risky for an executive at rock bottom in the popularity polls. The French were last consulted in 2005 on the ratification of the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe. The "no" vote won.