PARIS — French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu can breathe a sigh of relief for now after a no-confidence motion against his government failed to pass on Thursday.
A total of 271 lawmakers voted in favor of the measure, falling below the 289 threshold that would have brought down the government. MPs will vote on a second no-confidence motion put forward by the far right, but left-wing lawmakers have already said they will not support it.
Lecornu was expected to survive after committing to suspend an unpopular law that raised the age of retirement, but the result was not a sure thing given the risk of lawmakers breaking ranks with their party leaders. The freeze of the law until the next presidential election in 2027 was significant concession to the Socialist Party, which has been thrust into a kingmaker role. Retirement reform was considered a flagship achievement for French President Emmanuel Macron.
Had he lost the vote, Lecornu would have earned the embarrassing distinction of overseeing two historically short governments. The 39-year-old and his first team resigned last week just 14 hours after key ministers were named to their posts. Macron renamed Lecornu to the job on Friday and Lecornu named a new government on Sunday.
French lawmakers will start legislative work on the budget Monday when it goes to the National Assembly’s Finance Committee.
The PM has pledged to let the parliament discuss and vote on the budget without using a constitutional backdoor that would allow him to skip a parliamentary vote and disregard most amendments, but in turn allows lawmakers to put forward no-confidence motions.
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