(Bloomberg) -- French lawmakers rejected a heavily amended version of the country’s 2025 budget, sending the debate over how to plug holes in public finances to the senate.
The revenue portion of the bill was changed significantly during parliamentary debate after the left added tens of billions of euros of new tax increases. Marine Le Pen’s National Rally also added amendments to halt contributions to the European Union budget, which the government said were against the law
Centrist and center-right supporters of Prime Minister Michel Barnier’s government as well as lawmakers from National Rally voted against the revised plans. In total, 362 lawmakers voted against and 192 for the bill.
The rejection means the government can now submit its initial budget proposal to the senate for debate. Budget Minister Laurent Saint-Martin said the government will add some of the amendments approved by lawmakers to the text senators will deliberate.
“It’s important this debate wasn’t for nothing,” he said after the ballot. “I’m confident the parliament’s collective sense of responsibility to find a budget for our country that repairs public finances but doesn’t bludgeon our citizens and companies with taxes and is in conformity with the law.”
The bill will return to the National Assembly in early December, where the government will likely have to use a constitutional provision allowing its adoption without a parliamentary vote.
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