French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu can breathe a sigh of relief for now — two no-confidence motions against his government, put to a vote on Thursday, failed to win the required majority.
The first motion, tabled by the far-left opposition, was supported by 271 lawmakers, short of the 289 votes needed to topple the cabinet. Soon after, parliament also rejected a second motion put forward by the far right.
Although Lecornu was expected to survive after deciding to suspend the unpopular law raising the retirement age, the outcome was far from guaranteed: there remained a risk that some lawmakers might break ranks with their party leadership. Freezing the law until the 2027 presidential election was a significant concession to the Socialist Party, which has assumed the role of kingmaker. For President Emmanuel Macron, pension reform was regarded as one of his flagship achievements.
A defeat would have been particularly humiliating for Lecornu — he would have gone down in history as the head of two short-lived governments in a row. Just a week earlier, the 39-year-old prime minister and his first cabinet had resigned only 14 hours after key ministers were appointed. Macron reappointed him on Friday, and by Sunday Lecornu announced the composition of his new government.
On Monday, lawmakers will begin reviewing the budget in the finance committee of the National Assembly. The prime minister promised that parliament would be able to debate and vote on the document in full, without resorting to the constitutional procedure that allows the government to bypass a vote and reject most amendments. However, using this procedure would give lawmakers the opportunity to file new no-confidence motions.