Paris | French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu narrowly survived a vote of no confidence in the National Assembly on Thursday, averting an immediate political crisis and securing the future of his fragile administration.
The vote was seen as a test of Lecornu’s ability to navigate a deeply divided Parliament while preparing to pass the 2026 budget for France, the European Union’s second-largest economy. Failure would have forced President Emmanuel Macron to call early parliamentary elections and dissolve the National Assembly, a politically risky scenario.
Two separate no-confidence motions had been submitted—one by Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally and another by the hard-left France Unbowed party. While 271 MPs supported the France Unbowed resolution, it fell short of the 289 votes needed to topple Lecornu in the 577-seat assembly. Le Pen’s motion is expected to face even greater resistance.
Lecornu has threatened to reverse the controversial pension reform, which raises the retirement age from 62 to 64, to secure parliamentary support, persuading some opposition MPs to hold off on further action—for now. The Prime Minister has pledged not to use the constitutional mechanism previously employed by Macron to push the reform through without legislative approval.
With the budget deadline approaching, Lecornu faces a steep challenge: securing support for tax adjustments, spending cuts, and other measures necessary to rein in France’s ballooning deficit and debt. Analysts warn that parliamentary negotiations are likely to remain contentious, keeping Lecornu’s position under constant scrutiny.
