The French parliament, the Assemblée Nationale, rejected two motions of no confidence against the government of Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu on Monday evening. That report French media, including Le Monde. Lecornu has thus managed to get through a state budget for 2026, after two governments fell during attempts to do so last year.
In total, the Lecornu government has survived six motions of no confidence in recent weeks. After months of negotiations, the prime minister was unable to find a majority for his budget despite major concessions to left-wing parties. On January 19, Lecornu therefore invoked with “regret” and “bitterness” the controversial constitutional article 49.3, which allows him to introduce the budget without a vote in the National Assembly.
A risky act, because after invoking that article, the Assembly has the option of withdrawing confidence in the government. A similar motion led to the fall of Lecornu’s predecessor Michel Barnier in December 2024.
End of left-wing cooperation
Once again, the radical right Rassemblement National (RN) and the radical left La France Insoumise (LFI) immediately announced motions of no confidence, but this time they did not lead to a fall of the government. The Socialist Party (PS) sided with the prime minister after additional concessions from Lecornu and did not support the motions of no confidence. They failed to achieve a majority six times.
Opposite Le Monde stated Mathilde Panot, chairman of the LFI faction in the Assembly, that the Socialist Party’s choice not to support the motion of no confidence means the end of cooperation between her party and the PS. Panot pointed to the municipal elections in March as an opportunity to “deal with Macron’s party and its accomplices.”
In one message on X Prime Minister Lecornu calls the budget “the result of a parliamentary compromise, which includes amendments from all groups.” Lecornu previously indicated that the French budget deficit will drop to 5 percent of GDP with the new budget, compared to 5.4 percent last year. The country has a public debt of 115.6 percent of GDP, almost twice the maximum allowed by the EU of 60 percent.
The new budget law still has to pass the Constitutional Council, France’s highest constitutional court. That court tests bills and elections against the French constitution. LFI chairman Panot said on Monday that her party will also challenge the budget law in this court.
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After surviving two motions of no confidence, the French state budget for 2026 seems to be in sight
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