December 8, 2025 editorial of the New Anticapitalist Party-Revolutionaries (NPA-R) in France, translated from French.
The latest episode in a never-ending parliamentary saga [in France]: the vote on the social security budget! It was passed by a narrow majority (13 votes) of Members of Parliament (MPs) and with the support of the majority of Socialist Party representatives who voted in favor, thereby bolstering the government and its anti-popular policies. So it is the workers who will pay the price, and the bosses who have won the jackpot!
An anti-social budget
According to Sebastien Lecornu, France’s Prime Minister, the social security budget is “not perfect,” but it is “the best possible budget.” For the capitalists, whose countless exemptions from tax contributions are preserved, that’s for sure! Senators even went a step further, exempting companies with more than 250 employees from tax contributions on overtime. Bosses can now make us work more while contributing less: that’s more profit for them!
On the other hand, people with long-term illnesses (type 2 diabetes, disabling stroke, multiple sclerosis, etc.) could lose part of their tax exemptions on their daily social security benefits, which are generally very low. As for the hospital budget, it would only increase by 3%, while demographic changes would require at least 5%. At a time when the shortage of resources and staff is putting caregivers and patients at risk, they are announcing yet another round of austerity measures.
Beware of scams
The Socialist Party, a loyal supporter of the bourgeoisie, traded its vote for the so-called “suspension” of the 2023 pension reform, which is in reality a mere slowdown in the transition from the legal retirement age of 62 to 64: the number of quarters required to obtain a full pension will continue to increase, just less quickly than planned.
What’s more, it is the workers who will ultimately have to pay, as this “suspension” will be offset by a billion-euro tax on supplementary health insurance… which will not be able to increase its rates in 2026, but will not hesitate to do so in 2027!
Money for public services, not for merchants of death!
All this political maneuvering hides the essential: a veritable war budget against the working classes: $4.7 billion less for local governments, $17 billion in savings on public services, including 4,000 fewer teaching positions, but military budgets up by $6.5 billion! Their wars and our deaths for their profits: this is the militaristic logic they would have us accept. If we don’t put a stop to it, tens of billions more will be spent on buying Rafale fighter jets, tanks, and cannons, for the greater profit of Dassault and the arms capitalists.
We can only count on ourselves
In addition to this budget, Lecornu has already announced that “reforms” will be necessary to make further savings during the year. And this time it will be by decree!
So to stop these attacks, which come on top of the 380 layoff plans counted by the CGT (a major union), we will need much more than the one-off days of action proposed by the union leaderships! There will be no other solution than to rely solely on our own strength, all together, to put a stop to this widespread capitalist offensive!
