France faces billions-euro cost after failed parliamentary dissolution

Emmanuel Macron dissolved the National Assembly in an effort to end political disorder and obtain a decisive majority. The subsequent elections produced a legislature with no clear majority, even more divided than before, limiting the government's ability to act. This fragmentation has interfered with the annual budget vote, a procedure that had not been disrupted for 45 years since a technical glitch in 1979.

For two consecutive years, France could not pass a full budget on time and had to operate under a special law for about six weeks each year. The reliance on these stop-gap measures has already added billions of euros to the state’s financial burden.