The year 2026 will not prioritize ecology, following a 2025 in which the environment was already the biggest loser in the budget process. Elected officials are fairly unanimous on this point. While the budget of the Ministry for Ecological Transition remains stable, many environmental measures are being scaled back due to a difficult economic climate. For environmentalists, this is the result of a deliberate choice by the government.
“The entire budget is designed and understood as if there were no ecological crisis,” laments Sandrine Rousseau, a member of parliament for the Europe Ecology – The Greens (EELV) party. “The Green Fund, the only place where there could have been even a tiny bit of environmental consideration, has been cut in half, and above all, there is absolutely no reflection on the impact of our productivist model. Environmental concerns are not part of the National Assembly’s reasoning today. In 10 years, we will look back on these budget debates as utterly ludicrous in light of the real challenges we will face.”
The Greens – Europe Ecology The Greens
Better allocation of funds
This view is shared on the far right by the National Rally (RN), which believes, however, that it is not necessarily a question of resources, but rather of political projects and a better allocation of funds.
“We need to approach this differently, which means providing the means to create wealth in France and therefore reduce its greenhouse gas emissions. It’s not about throwing more money at the problem, writing checks left and right, but about having a vision for energy with genuine development of nuclear power, a real vision for reindustrialization,” explains National Rally MP Thomas Ménagé.
Conversely, for Macron’s supporters, the damage is limited. Ensemble pour la République (EPR) MP Olga Givernet wants to see the positive side of this constrained budget exercise. “This government has a genuine desire to put ecology back at the forefront and France back on the international stage,” she believes.
For now, environmental issues have received little attention. They are expected to come to the forefront during the examination of the budget’s spending section.
