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French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu faces two no-confidence motions in parliament on Thursday, although his chance of being ousted are seen as slim.
Lecornu on Tuesday announced the suspension of an unpopular pension reform that raised the retirement age from 62 to 64, a signature policy measure of President Emmanuel Macron’s second term.
The concession secured Lecornu support from the Socialists, who had demanded the pause as a condition for tolerating the fragile centre-right government.
But lawmakers in France are not bound by party-line voting, making the outcome of the no-confidence motions tabled by left-wing and far-right parties far from certain.
If Lecornu survives the vote, his government can press ahead with the difficult task of trying to get next year’s budget passed, which includes huge spending cuts and tax measures.
A defeat would likely trigger the dissolution of parliament and fresh elections, as it is considered unlikely that Macron would again appoint a new prime minister to form a government.
Since the snap parliamentary election called by Macron in mid-2024, the National Assembly has been split into several political blocs, none of which commands a governing majority or can form a stable coalition. Lecornu’s Cabinet is already the fourth government since that vote.
The country’s high public debt has underscored the need for cross-party agreement on spending cuts, but deep party divisions have soured the public mood and increased political instability.
Lecornu’s two immediate predecessors – Michel Barnier and François Bayrou – both lost confidence votes as they tried to push through unpopular austerity measures in the eurozone’s second-biggest economy.
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