France’s public debt is on course to reach its highest level since 1978, the country’s finance ministry has said.
A ministry source told reporters on September 19 that debt would reach 119.3 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2026 and 121.7 per cent in 2027, AFP reported. That is more than double the 60 per cent reference limit the European Union asks member states to aim for.
The comparison with 1978 is based on records kept by national statistics institute Insee. The projections were set out in a declaration to the High Council of Public Finances, the body that assesses the forecasts behind the government’s budget, Reuters reported.
The source described the rise as an automatic consequence of a deficit that remained high. The ministry expected this year’s deficit to reach 5.4 per cent of GDP, against the 3 per cent ceiling set by EU rules.
Debt stood at 115.7 per cent of GDP in 2025, having been below 100 per cent in 2019, according to government data. France is now the third most indebted country in the eurozone, behind Greece and Italy.
Spain’s debt, by contrast, fell below 100 per cent of GDP in July, while Portugal brought its own below 90 per cent in 2025.
Paris has been subject to the EU’s excessive deficit procedure since 2024. Its deficit came in at 5.1 per cent of GDP in 2025.
The projection came days after finance minister Roland Lescure halved the growth forecast for this year to 0.5 per cent and admitted the deficit would overshoot its 5 per cent target.
On September 17, Lecornu told the newspaper Le Figaro that his 2027 budget would include a savings drive worth €54 billion. Without it, he said, the deficit would exceed 6.5 per cent of GDP next year.
The Prime Minister said the government was aiming for a 2027 deficit of 5 per cent, or 4.8 per cent excluding defence spending.
Lecornu heads a minority government in a deeply divided parliament, where his two predecessors, Michel Barnier and François Bayrou, were brought down in stand-offs over the public finances.
Socialist lawmakers have ruled out backing the bill as they did for the 2026 budget, Reuters reported. That could leave its fate in the hands of National Rally (RN), whose leader Marine Le Pen is leading the polls for the presidential election due in April and May 2027.
The draft budget is due before the National Assembly on September 30. Paris must also submit its draft budgetary plan to the European Commission by October 15, as required of all eurozone member states.
