News Digest: EES Pushed Back, New Immigration Law & France’s 2025 Budget

It seemed too good to be true, and it was! The new EU Entry/Exit System, which was finally set to be launched on November 10th after numerous setbacks and delays, has been delayed yet again. The decision to postpone its launch was confirmed by EU Commissioner Ylva Johansson on Thursday, who also admitted that there isn’t a new date in sight: “I hope that we can start as soon as possible, but there is no new timeline so far”.

She also confirmed that a “phased approach” may be used to ease the transition to the new system but did not specify how this might work. We’ll let you know as soon as we know more.

On Thursday, French Prime Minister Michel Barnier delivered his 2025 budget, and it’s already causing some shockwaves, especially among the far left. Barnier’s budget is a reaction to the news that France’s deficit has widened to 6.1% in 2024, presenting a worrying amount of debt for Europe’s second-largest economy. Through tax rises and spending cuts, it proposes to make an additional €20 billion and reduce spending by €40 billion in 2025.

Some of the key changes proposed are:

• Tax rises: these are proposed only for the highest earners for a period of three years and would affect an estimated 65,000 taxpayers – individuals earning more than €250,000. Businesses with a turnover of more than €8 billion would also be affected, but these hikes would only last two years. Small businesses and freelancers wouldn’t be affected.
• Return of electricity taxes: the tax cuts in place to help shield households from rising prices would be removed. This would mean that more than 6 million households in France could see their electricity bill shoot up by 14% next year.
• State reimbursement for doctor appointments will fall to 60% from the current 70% – for most people, the difference would still be covered by their mutuelles, but this could mean higher prices of mutuelle insurance as the increases are passed onto customers.
• Eco taxes: higher taxes will be levied on owners of polluting vehicles, as well as ships and planes.
• Sick pay: the state-funded portion of sick pay would be reduced, shifting the costs back to employers.
• Pension freezes: a freeze on the automatic inflation-linked increase in French pensions would mean that pensions wouldn’t automatically be increased according to inflation in January.

Remember that this budget has not yet been approved – it still needs to pass through both the Assemblée Nationale and the Senate, which is no small hurdle, especially as Barnier does not have a majority government.

The highly controversial immigration bill that finally passed into law at the start of this year brought with it a number of changes, including new language requirements for those hoping to apply for a French residency card or French nationality. It also came after months of bitter debate and amendments that divided parliament. So, if you’ve seen the recent news that a new immigration law has been proposed, you’d be forgiven for thinking, “not again?!”

The announcement was made by government spokeswoman Maud Bregeon on BFMTV, who stated that a new law would be required in 2025. She was talking about the need to change the rules regarding immigrants who have committed a crime or are considered dangerous and specifically referring to extending the time that such individuals can be held in detention centres.

However, she also clearly stated that the government wouldn’t rule out “the possibility of considering other provisions”. This, combined with Interior Minister Bruno Retaillau’s recent talk about revisiting the parts of the 2024 law thrown out by the Constitutional Council and the upcoming European summit in Brussels to discuss strengthening EU border controls and deportation rules, has led many MPs to start talking about further changes to France’s immigration policy. For the moment, this is just talk, but as immigration control is such a key issue, it’s likely that we’ll see a new bill put to Barnier’s new government at some point in the near future.

Our final FrenchEntrée webinar of the year is going to be especially for our American audience (Canadians – a lot of it will probably be relevant for you, too!), so make sure you don’t miss out and sign up today.

Our guest host, Iva Slavtcheva, will be joined by an excellent panel of hosts, including Miranda from Paris Property Group, Thomas from Société de Courtage, Eleonore from Lexidy, and Kelly from Moneycorp to cover everything you need to know about moving to France as an American in 2025. Real estate and the property purchase process, French mortgages, visas and immigration to France, and currency exchange and maximizing your budget – we’ll be covering it ALL!

Moving to France as an American in 2025:Your Essential Guide

Thursday 7th November
6pm ET

If you own a French property and haven’t already paid your taxe foncière bill, you have until midnight this Sunday, October 20th, to make the payment or set up a direct debit.