France has begun the New Year with a shake-up of political privileges, long criticised as being out of touch. The move comes as the government grapples with increasing voter mistrust, according to an annual poll, and record levels of public debt.
From 1 January, France's automatic “lifetime” state benefits – including official cars, drivers and permanent police protection – for former prime ministers and interior ministers have been discontinued, with 24 police officers and 24 drivers withdrawn from former office holders.
The move follows an announcement by Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu in mid-September 2025 that such automatic benefits would be replaced by fixed-term arrangements.
Under the new rules, former prime ministers will retain a state-funded car and driver for 10 years, while police protection will be limited to three years.
Former interior ministers will receive protection for two years, after which security will only be maintained if a specific threat is identified.
Former prime ministers – including Jean-Marc Ayrault, François Fillon and Jean-Pierre Raffarin – were reportedly notified of the change by a letter from the prime minister's office.
The Interior Ministry stressed that the reform was not about stripping protection altogether, but about scaling it back to match genuine risk. The objective, it said, was to ensure “consistency, proportionality and good management of public resources”.
Lecornu has framed the decision as a matter of political credibility. In a message posted on social media when the reform was announced, he argued that leaders could not credibly demand sacrifices from the public while retaining privileges that no longer reflected the country’s reality.
Writing on X (formerly Twitter), he said: "While it is normal for the Republic to protect individuals who are subject to threats, it is not acceptable, on the other hand, for them to benefit from lifetime advantages due to a temporary status."
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A deepening divide
The decision comes against a backdrop of growing mistrust between French voters and the political class.
The Fractures françaises poll, a long-running annual survey that tracks social, political and cultural divides within French society, shows confidence in political institutions at persistently low levels, with many respondents saying elected leaders no longer understand their daily lives or concerns.
The 2025 edition of the study found a majority of respondents describing France as “in decline”, while trust in political parties and parliament ranked far below that placed in institutions such as hospitals or local authorities.
Calls for sweeping political change – including the dissolution of the National Assembly – featured prominently in responses in the poll, founded in 2013 by Ipsos and several French academic partners.
This scepticism has repeatedly spilled on to the streets. The autumn 2025 “Block Everything” protests, triggered by proposed budget cuts and rising living costs, drew comparisons with the Yellow Vest movement of 2018–19, which erupted over fuel taxes and broader concerns about social justice.
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Political turmoil
Behind Lecornu’s reform lies a far tougher economic reality. France’s public debt remains above 110 percent of GDP, while efforts to pass a functioning budget in 2025 exposed deep divisions in parliament and led to months of political instability.
Two prime ministers fell in quick succession, as governments struggled to assemble majorities for spending cuts and tax measures demanded by Brussels.
Unions responded with waves of strikes across transport, education and the public sector, arguing that ordinary workers were being asked to shoulder the burden of fiscal consolidation while political elites appeared insulated from its effects.
In that context, ending lifetime perks carries more symbolic than financial weight. The savings involved are modest in the context of the state budget, but the gesture has been widely interpreted as an attempt to show that political leaders are no longer exempt from belt-tightening.
Joking about how he would manage without a chauffeur, former interior minister Daniel Vaillant told French daily La Dépêche that he had not driven himself for more than two decades.
