France's fragmented National Assembly, a legacy of the 2024 snap elections and resulting minority governments, continues to complicate passage of annual finance bills on schedule. The 2026 budget required months of negotiations, multiple uses of Article 49.3 to bypass votes, stopgap legislation to avert shutdowns, and survival of no-confidence motions before final adoption in early February 2026. Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu's administration secured concessions from centrist and moderate parties amid persistent opposition from left-wing and far-right blocs, yet structural spending pressures, high deficits, and debt servicing costs remain unresolved without a stable coalition. These same procedural hurdles and partisan divisions sustain trader expectations of delays or extensions for the next budget cycle.