France's deadlocked parliament failed to come to an agreement on the state spending section of the 2026 budget, forcing the prime minister to use an emergency law to rollover the 2025 budget into next year.
The rollover avoids a US-style shutdown and allows the government to continue with daily spending including paying public sector employees, but it cannot authorise new spending.
Now the transport minister has revealed that two big projects planned for January have been shelved.
Philippe Tabarot told RTL radio: "I had an order to place in January for a large number of night trains, a means of transport in vogue in our country, and this order worth around €1billion will not be able to go ahead."
He added that the same applies to "a major reform of air traffic control that needs to be carried out in terms of investment", in particular the modernisation of tools and systems.
"We will be forced to postpone these investments. Just as we are postponing other investments in roads and railways," he said.
The modernisation of air traffic control is a sensitive subject, with French air traffic controllers involved in a long-running dispute with the government over working conditions, which has led to several highly disruptive strikes.
Early this month the parliament did agree on the first part of the budget, which covers healthcare and social security spending - that means, from January 1st, new projects can begin and things like pensions, benefits and the minimum wage will be adjusted for inflation.
The second part of the budget - which covers state spending and revenue such as tax changes and new investment - is still the subject of discussion.
MPs will vote in parliament on Tuesday on a special law to allow the rollover of the 2025 budget, with the intention that discussions will continue into January and February.
The rollover allows basic spending to continue, but new projects are halted - some government financed schemes such as the MaPrimeRenov property grants will also be halted on January 1st.
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