13% VAT, frozen benefits: France's public auditor lays out €38 billion in savings
France's Court of Audit (Cour des comptes) on Monday published 18 measures meant to raise between €32 billion and €38 billion from 2027. On the menu: a higher intermediate VAT rate, a so-called blank year for social benefits and a freeze on civil servants' promotions.
The auditors on Rue Cambon have got their calculators out, and the bill is steep. In a report released on Monday 9 November, the Cour des comptes, France's public audit court, sets out 18 measures to repair the public finances, worth between €32 billion and €38 billion in savings from 2027. Some of them, worth €11 billion to €14 billion, already feature in the state and social security budget bills currently before Parliament.
Most of the effort falls on public spending. But nearly a third of the total comes from cutting tax and social-contribution breaks, in other words from extra levies.
The headline proposals
Among the most sensitive ideas:
- a blank year (année blanche) for social benefits, meaning no inflation uprating, except for minimum social benefits: €4.8 billion in 2027;
- alternatively, scrapping the 10% allowance on pensions in the income tax calculation: €7.3 billion;
- raising the intermediate VAT rate from 10% to 13%, which applies in particular to restaurants, transport, accommodation and home renovation work: €4.3 billion;
- a one-year freeze on advancement and promotions in the civil service: €3.9 billion;
- tighter rules on social-contribution relief: €3.5 billion;
- a bigger contribution from local authorities: €4.9 billion.
The Court also targets the cost of sick leave (€1.9 billion), of health products (€1.9 billion), the patient co-payment on reimbursements (€1.2 billion) and employment and training policies (€1.8 billion). It even suggests adjusting teacher numbers to the falling birth rate, for €100 million.
A deficit slipping again
According to BFM Business, the auditors welcome the fall in the public deficit to 5.1% of GDP in 2025, down from 5.8% in 2024. But they note a relapse this year, with the deficit expected at no less than 5.4% in 2026, far from the government's 5% target.
The 18 measures repeat recommendations made in earlier reports, with updated costings. In the longer term, the institution argues for a binding multi-year public finance programming law, which would notably cap spending for each public administration and set a path back to balance for the social security system.
Montchalin: not a counter-budget
The Court's first president, Amélie de Montchalin, a former public accounts minister, presented the report at a press conference. She said the timing was driven by worsening growth prospects and by the resumption of budget talks in the Senate that same Monday.
She noted that this was a particular moment, with budget discussions resuming in the Senate that very day.
She insisted the report was neither an alternative budget nor a counter-budget, but a range of precise, costed solutions intended to inform lawmakers.
The timing is sensitive: the proposals largely target purchasing power and social benefits amid protests over the cost of living, on the very day the government is hosting unions and employers at Matignon.
What next
Budget discussions resumed in the Senate on Monday. It remains to be seen whether any of these proposals, in particular the VAT rise or the end of the pensioners' allowance, will be taken up as amendments.
