Social Security is sinking into a budgetary abyss that the Court of Auditors now considers alarming. On the eve of the debate on the 2026 budget in the National Assembly, the public finance oversight body sounded the alarm about the fragility of the government's projections, arguing that the planned trajectory for the system's recovery was based on unrealistic assumptions.
A deficit that is spiraling out of control
The president of the Court of Auditors, Pierre Moscovici, presented a report on Monday detailing a situation he described as "very vulnerable." According to him, the targets set for 2026 are almost a gamble. The Social Security deficit, already projected at €23 billion for 2025, should theoretically fall to €17,5 billion in 2026. But these figures are considered fragile by the Court, which believes that a simple shift in the parliamentary debate could cause the deficit to remain at or even worsen. Moscovici warned that in such a scenario, France risks failing to meet its public finance targets. This warning is not new. For several years, the Court has been concerned about a chronic deterioration of the social security accounts. And this time, the assessment is all the more serious given that the country's economic situation does not justify such an imbalance. No major crisis explains this continuous decline, which instead reveals a structural inability to control social spending.
Austerity measures that are difficult to maintain
The 2026 budget proposal presented by the Lecornu government, developed in line with the previous administration led by François Bayrou, aims to limit healthcare spending to a 1,6% increase. This level of austerity is unprecedented since 2015. However, this budgetary discipline rests on controversial choices: the non-indexation of pensions and social benefits to inflation, and the doubling of medical deductibles. These two politically explosive measures, intended to generate several billion euros, are deemed socially unjust by the opposition and part of the majority. Faced with the outcry, the Prime Minister has already backed down. Sébastien Lecornu announced Friday evening in the National Assembly that he was abandoning the non-indexation, implicitly acknowledging the untenability of this measure. He also invited parliamentarians to "ease the pressure a little" on the savings imposed on hospitals, already stretched to their limits after several years of austerity measures. The Court of Auditors fears that these successive concessions will make the 2026 budget even more uncertain. Without structural reforms or a redefinition of funding priorities, the French social protection system risks seeing its deficit deepen permanently. The institution therefore calls for bolder decisions, reiterating that the social security system, meant to protect the French people, can only continue to play its role if it finds a sustainable balance.
