News Digest: Vote of No-Confidence for French PM & What Changes in France in Feb?

If you’re heading to the French Alps this half-term, travelling to some of the most popular alpine resorts just became more complicated after a landslide caused extensive damage to parts of the RN90. The RN90, which connects to ski resorts such as Les Arcs, Val d’Isere, Courchevel, and Meribel, was hit by several enormous boulders—bigger than a car—on Saturday, leaving hundreds stranded, but miraculously no one hurt.

Repairing the road surface and barriers, which were equally damaged by the sheer size of the rocks, will take time, but local préfet François Ravier also warned that a safety assessment of the surrounding mountains would have to be carried out to determine any further risk areas before the road could reopen. In short, it’s unlikely to reopen in time for the February half-term holidays, causing traffic disruption during one of the region’s busiest periods. Redirected traffic will pass through the Ponserand tunnel, but adapting the one-way tunnel into a contraflow system means a rate of just 800 cars per hour passing through. With some 40,000 skiers expected to arrive this weekend, the maths doesn’t look good!

There’s no need to cancel your trip, but local police are advising that motorists follow local signs and diversions rather than following sat-navs/GPS and try to arrive outside of the busiest period (12-5pm) if at all possible. To help ease the traffic, it’s worth considering alternatives such as train travel, car-sharing where possible, and perhaps adding an overnight stay so that you can tackle the last part of the journey in the early morning, which is likely to be the quietest time.

You can find out more about the road closure and driving in the area on the Savoie website here.

It seems like each month brings another looming political crisis, and French Prime Minister François Bayrou has managed to inflame parliament anew as we move into February. This month is crunch time for France’s long overdue 2025 budget, with Bayrou insisting that a budget must be approved by mid-February: “A country like ours cannot remain without a budget”.

Bayrou’s attempts to bridge the ever-increasing divide between France’s left and right doesn’t seem to be going well, however, with his recent comments about a “flood” of migrants in France leading the left to call him out over his use of far-right language. His latest move – evoking the infamous Article 49.3 yesterday to push his budget through parliament, the exact move that led to the downfall of former Prime Minister Michel Barnier – isn’t going to win him any support; after all, wasn’t it just weeks ago that he promised both sides that he wouldn’t use it? Naturally, the move has led to an immediate filing of a vote of no-confidence from the left. The vote is set to take place this week, and so far, parties on the right have not announced whether or not they will support it.

Which brings us back to a familiar question: will we finally have a 2025 budget by next week, or will we be back where we started without a Prime Minister?

If you’re excited to pack up, hit the ski slopes, and forget about politics, then there’s good news – the February half-term is almost here! Schools in France break up depending on their geographical “zone”, with Zone B starting this Saturday, 8th February and enjoying a two-week break, returning to school on Monday, 24th February.

Zone C will follow, with the holidays running from Sat, 15th February to Mon, 3rd March, and finally, Zone A, who will be on leave from Sat, 22nd  February to Mon, 10th March.

See our guide for more: French School Holidays – 2024/2025 Dates for Your Calendar.

1st February is often a key date in French administration when various new laws and tariff increases/decreases are brought into action. Here’s a quick round-up of some of the changes you can expect this month:

• Increase in motorway tolls: France’s autoroutes are set for a 0.92% increase in road tolls.
• Gas price rises: gas users will see a small bump in prices this month, averaging around 1%.
• Electricity tariffs drop: Electricity tariffs, on the other hand, are set to decrease by a not-insignificant 15% for those on regulated tariffs.
• Livret A interest rates fall: The interest rates on France’s tax-free savings accounts will go down from 3% to 2.4% to match falling inflation.
• Carte grise prices go up: Some regions, including Brittany and the Grand Est, will see a hike in the fees for vehicle registration – from now on, the local taxes will rise by €5-12 depending on your region.

Our next free webinar is devoted to Where to Start with Buying in France, and I’ll be joined by an expert panel that includes an estate agent, a French mortgage broker, a cross-border legal advisor, and a currency exchange specialist to go over all the basics and answer your questions live.

For this webinar, we’ll be focusing primarily on our UK audience (although plenty of the information will be relevant to all buyers), but if you live in the US and Canada, don’t worry – we’ve got a similar event planned for you coming up in April – we’ll have more details closer to the time, but you can already sign up here.

If you want to make 2025 the year that you find your dream French property, then make sure to sign up!

Sign up for our free Where to Start with Buying in France – UK webinar here!