French Senate Approves 2025 Budget

French Senate Approves 2025 Budget Amid Political Challenges

PARIS (Reuters) - The French Senate approved on Thursday the 2025 budget, sending it to the constitutional council to review.

If the council approves the legislation, President Emmanuel Macron can then sign it into law, ending a political imbroglio that toppled one government and rattled markets.

The budget aims to reduce the deficit by trimming spending and raising taxes on wealthy people and corporations.

Prime Minister Francois Bayrou had invoked special constitutional powers to force through the budget, after his predecessor's government had failed to pass one in 2024 and after weeks of wrangling with different political parties.

"There is not a second to lose," said Jean-Francois Husson, a senator who spoke in front of the chamber on behalf of the panel of lawmakers who hashed out the final text of the budget.

Lawmakers had passed a special law to maintain core functions of the government and avert an American-style government shutdown in December.

But in a few months they will need to start the process all over again for the 2026 budget.

(Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta and Makini Brice)