French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu survived a vote of no-confidence Thursday that could have toppled his fragile new Government and plunged France deeper into political chaos. The National Assembly vote clears the way for the embattled Lecornu to pursue what could be an even greater challenge: getting a 2026 budget for the European Union’s second-largest economy through Parliament’s powerful but bitterly divided lower house before the end of the year.
Lecornu’s survival also spares any immediate need for President Emmanuel Macron to again dissolve the National Assembly and call snap legislative elections, a hazardous option that the French leader had signalled he might take if Lecornu fell. The close ally of the French president faced two no-confidence motions filed by Macron’s fiercest opponents - the hard-left France Unbowed party and Marine Le Pen of the far-right National Rally and her allies in Parliament. The 577-seat chamber voted on the France Unbowed motion first — and it fell short, with 271 lawmakers supporting it. It had needed a majority of 289 votes to succeed.
Lawmakers are now voting on Le Pen’s second motion but it is thought even less likely to succeed, because the far-right leader’s opponents on the left are not expected to support it.
