France's Prime Minister Lecornu Unveils Agenda Post-Budget Conflict

Lecornu's Strategic Priorities

PARIS, Feb 8 (Reuters) - Less than a week after surviving a five-month-long battle over France's 2026 budget, Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu set out his agenda over the weekend, prioritising energy and defence.

Energy Initiatives

Budget wrangling consumed French politics for nearly two years and cost two prime ministers before Lecornu was appointed in September.

Defense Spending

"France has a budget that aims to reduce the deficit to 5% without raising taxes. Few believed it would happen in the autumn," Lecornu said.

Decentralization Efforts

Despite rising popularity and polls showing neither President Emmanuel Macron's centrists nor conservatives could defeat the far-right National Rally in the 2027 presidential election, Lecornu repeated he had no interest in running.

State Medical Aid Reforms

He added that a minor cabinet reshuffle would take place ahead of March local elections.

Here are Lecornu's priorities for the coming months.

ENERGY

The prime minister said the government's next "multi‑year energy programme" would be signed by decree by the end of next week, after more than two years of delays.

He confirmed that state-owned EDF will build six new nuclear reactors, with an option for eight others, while investment in renewable energy - including offshore wind, solar and geothermal power — would remain "ambitious".

"Next, we will need to consider incentives to speed up electrification. The goal is to ensure that 60% of our consumption in 2030 is electric."

DEFENCE

"Increasing the defence budget (57 billion euros or $67.35 billion), which will double between 2017 and 2027, is essential ... we must continue," Lecornu said.

He also said the military programming law would be updated by Bastille Day on July 14.

DECENTRALISATION

"The new international landscape and the state of our public finances make it urgent to refocus the state on certain tasks. It must therefore rely more clearly on other local public actors to exercise certain powers," Lecornu said.

He added that a bill containing 50 "simplification" measures would be submitted to parliament before the March local elections.

STATE MEDICAL AID

Lecornu pledged to maintain State Medical Aid (AME), a French social assistance scheme primarily covering the medical costs of undocumented migrants — which the far right has vowed to scrap if it comes to power in 2027.

However, he announced two decrees to reform the programme: one aimed at combating fraud, with savings of 180 million euros, and a second focused on modernising government IT systems to ensure all civil servants responsible for the scheme have access.

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(Reporting by Elizabeth Pineau, Jean-Stephane Brosse and Benoit Van Overstraeten; Editing by Ros Russell)