Paris, France – French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu has narrowly survived two no-confidence votes, clinging to power by pledging to suspend President Emmanuel Macron’s deeply unpopular pension reforms in a high-stakes bid to win over opposition support. The move highlights the profound political instability that has plagued the French government.
The political drama unfolded on Thursday in a tense session at the National Assembly. A motion filed by the far-left party La France Insoumise came remarkably close to toppling the government, failing by a narrow margin of just 18 votes. A second motion, brought by Marine Le Pen’s far-right party, failed by a much wider margin, as moderate parties were unwilling to align with them.
For Lecornu, the victory was a temporary reprieve in a political landscape that has seen two of his predecessors ousted in less than a year. François Bayrou was removed last month after calling a vote of no-confidence in himself, and Michel Barnier resigned in December 2024 after losing a similar vote.
Lecornu’s survival was secured only after a major concession to the Socialist party. He announced he would propose a suspension of the contentious 2023 pension reforms—which raised the retirement age from 62 to 64—until the 2027 presidential election. The reforms, a cornerstone of Macron’s agenda, had previously sparked months of mass protests and were forced through parliament without a final vote, a move Lecornu himself admitted was a “wound on democracy.”
The Socialists had made the suspension a non-negotiable condition for their support. “He is holding his destiny in his own hands,” Socialist MP Laurent Baumel had warned on French TV prior to the vote. “He knows what he has to do if he doesn’t want to be the prime minister who resigns every week.”
While Lecornu has survived for now, his government remains on shaky ground. Operating without a majority in a fragmented parliament, he faces an uphill battle to pass key legislation, most notably the 2026 budget.
The cost of his political survival is steep. Suspending the pension reform will cost an estimated €400 million in 2026 and €1.8 billion in 2027, funds that Lecornu said must be “compensated by other savings.” This will complicate efforts to control France’s soaring public debt, which stands at nearly 114% of GDP, and a budget deficit projected to hit 5.4% this year.
The Socialists, having lent their support to save the government, have already signaled they will fight to overturn large parts of the prime minister’s budget, setting the stage for yet another political showdown. Lecornu has bought himself time, but the fight for his government’s survival is far from over.
