Leftist leader says sparing the premier “is not a pact” for the future
French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu survived two confidence votes on Thursday, just days after forming his new government and making a key political move to remain in power.
The votes came after Lecornu’s decision on Tuesday to suspend the controversial 2023 pension reform. The move aimed to keep his cabinet stable long enough to pass a crucial austerity budget by the end of the year.
The Socialist Party (PS) had threatened to vote against Lecornu unless he froze the reform, which proposed raising the retirement age from 62 to 64.
Without support from the PS, two separate no-confidence motions by the far-left France Unbowed and the far-right National Rally failed to secure enough votes to remove Lecornu.
However, PS lawmaker Laurent Baumel warned that sparing the premier “is in no way a pact” for the future, calling for “new concessions” in the upcoming budget discussions.
France, the eurozone’s second-largest economy, has faced political deadlock since President Emmanuel Macron’s snap elections last year, intended to strengthen his mandate. The vote instead produced a hung parliament and strengthened far-right parties.
Belt-Tightening Budget
Lecornu, Macron’s seventh prime minister since 2017, now faces the challenge of passing a cost-cutting budget through a deeply divided parliament before year-end, which is expected to be a tough battle.
The confidence votes came after a turbulent two weeks in French politics. Lecornu, appointed last month, resigned last Monday amid criticism of his initial cabinet but was quickly reappointed and presented a reshuffled team to submit a draft budget to parliament.
Facing pressure from the European Union to reduce deficit and debt, France must implement austerity measures that led to the downfall of Lecornu’s two predecessors. France’s debt-to-GDP ratio is the third highest in the EU, after Greece and Italy, nearly double the bloc’s 60% limit.
Lecornu has promised not to use a constitutional tool that allows the government to pass budgets without a vote, pledging instead that all bills will go through debate. “The government will make suggestions, we will debate, and you will vote,” the 39-year-old Macron ally said on Tuesday.
Opposition parties have expressed skepticism. Marine Le Pen of the National Rally accused lawmakers of giving Lecornu a reprieve out of “fear of elections,” saying she awaited parliament’s dissolution with “growing impatience.”
The far right sees its strongest opportunity yet to gain power in the 2027 presidential election when Macron’s second and final term ends.
