Paris, the euro and 81 seats: the French Republic behind the 2027 Finance Bill

Background

The 2027 Finance Bill now before the French Parliament, and the re-election of the President of the Senate, both rest on a set of standing facts worth keeping straight. France is a semi-presidential republic: the President of the Republic is head of state and is directly elected, while a Prime Minister heads the government. Its capital is Paris and its official EU language is French. The currency is the euro. France is a founding member state of the European Union, a member since 1 January 1958, and has been part of the Schengen area since 26 March 1995. It holds 81 of the seats in the European Parliament, the second largest national bloc. Eurostat puts its population at 69,112,309 for 2026, and its territory at 638,475 square kilometres, a figure that includes its overseas departments and regions. Parliament has two chambers, the National Assembly and the Senate, and a finance bill is tabled first in the National Assembly.