Offsetting the cost of the war in the Middle East: what you need to know about credit cancellations and freezes p

In mid-April, the government estimated that 6 billion euros in savings on spending could be made in 2026.

The war in the Middle East is expensive, very expensive. To compensate, the Ministry of Action and Public Accounts announced Thursday May 28 that it wanted

freeze 3.2 billion euros of appropriations from the state budget and cancel 847 million euros

. These approximately 4 billion euros of savings on the state budget are added to the

2.2 billion euros obtained thanks to the freezing of reductions in social contributions

companies on low wages announced last week, said the minister’s office during a telephone press briefing.

The government announced in mid-April, as part of an alert committee on public finances, that

6 billion euros in spending savings could be made in 2026

to compensate for the cost of war, in the form of credit freezes or “targeted cancellations”. A

second alert committee

will be held “at the end of June”, the ministry said on Thursday and “will be an opportunity to take stock of the impact of the crisis on public finances and the management efforts necessary following the evolution of the conflict”.

All ministries affected by credit freezes, except Overseas

Dans le détail, Bercy a rédigé

a first “decree in advance”,

relating to both cancellations of credits up to

407 million euros,

compensating for aid measures for heavy drivers (320 million euros) and the payment of energy checks to 700,000 additional beneficiaries (87 million euros). A

second decree canceling 440 million euros of credits

was also written. These 847 million euros of canceled credits “pertain almost exclusively to the precautionary reserve and were not intended to be spent automatically”, it was emphasized.

The two texts, including the precise breakdown of cancellations, “mission by mission, program by program”, were

“sent for opinion” Thursday evening to the finance committees of the National Assembly and the Senate,

said the office of David Amiel, Minister of Action and Public Accounts. “They have seven days to decide, so until next Thursday,” we added.

The Ministries of the Armed Forces and Justice are notably protected from credit cancellations. Credit freezes, on the other hand, concern

all ministries, with the exception of Overseas,

“which had already been the subject of an early credit freeze last March”. “We are making these credits temporarily unavailable for the ministries. They can no longer use them. But there are

the capacity during the year, depending on the evolution of the situation, to thaw them”,

a expliqué Bercy.