French PM warns of 'loss of control' over social security spending

PARIS, Dec 4 (Reuters) - France risks losing control of social security spending if lawmakers do not back a welfare, health and pensions financing bill, Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu said on Thursday.

Lawmakers in the lower house of parliament are due to vote on the taxation part of the 2026 social security financing bill later on Thursday. If that passes, they will hold a final vote on the whole bill next Tuesday.

Rejection of the bill would plunge the financing of social security, a major part of France's overall public budget deficit, into limbo.

The absence of a social security budget "would lead to a total loss of control over social security management", Lecornu told lawmakers.

It would leave the social security budget with a shortfall of up to 30 billion euros ($35 billion), he said, nearly twice the 17 billion euros foreseen in the government's original bill.

Budget talks have become increasingly fraught since President Emmanuel Macron lost his majority in last year's snap parliamentary election, triggering broad political instability.

A battle over last year's budget triggered a no-confidence vote that brought down the cabinet of Michel Barnier, one of Lecornu's predecessors.

($1 = 0.8569 euros)

(Reporting by Dominique Vidalon, Elizabeth Pineau and Leigh ThomasEditing by Gareth Jones)