All posts tagged: French political crisis

French government survives no-confidence votes over budget – POLITICO

French government survives no-confidence votes over budget – POLITICO

Published by Sam Flores

That maneuver, Article 49.3 of the constitution, allows the government to ram through legislation without a vote but in turn gives opposition lawmakers the opportunity to respond by putting forward a no-confidence vote. Lecornu triggered that measure on Tuesday to pass the part of the budget that concerns raising revenue. He is expected to use it again Friday to pass the final part of the budget concerning government expenditures. Lecornu had been expected to survive, as the political extremes do not have enough lawmakers among themselves to bring down the government. The more centrist Socialists, who have played a kingmaker role during the prime minister’s tenure, did not try to topple the government after Lecornu offered them several last-minute budgetary concessions. France is under pressure from financial markets and international institutions to cut a budget deficit that came in at 5.4 percent of GDP last year and debt that is projected to go up to 118.2 percent of GDP in 2026, according to the government’s forecast. The country’s hung parliament was, for a second year …

French government to force through 2026 budget, face no-confidence vote – POLITICO

French government to force through 2026 budget, face no-confidence vote – POLITICO

Published by Sam Flores

Far-right leaders Jordan Bardella and Marine Le Pen both quickly took to X to excoriate the move, with the former reiterating his call for President Emmanuel Macron to dissolve parliament and send voters back to the ballot box. Le Pen is barred from running in any future contest until an appeals court rules on the five-year election ban she was handed as the result of an embezzlement conviction last year.  Lecornu and his government entered the new year with mostly risky options to finalize France’s fiscal plans after lawmakers in the country’s hung parliament failed to pass a proper budget before the end of 2025. Early in his tenure, Lecornu ruled out using Article 49.3 to pass a budget, betting the concession would help ensure the survival of his minority government and avoid the fate of his two immediate predecessors, both of whom were toppled over their deficit reduction efforts. But on Monday he acknowledged that despite personal “regret” and “bitterness,” he would need to go back on his word, saying that while the government wanted the parliamentary procedure to continue “until the end,” the …

Budget nightmare pushes French PM toward risky options to end stalemate – POLITICO

Budget nightmare pushes French PM toward risky options to end stalemate – POLITICO

Published by Sam Flores

MPs returned from the holiday break with little more appetite to strike a deal, and the prospects of Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu’s minority government persuading a majority to back a budget — one that includes politically sensitive measures to rein in France’s chronic deficit — have all but evaporated. Lecornu in a Friday evening address attempted to get Socialists on board by promising 1 euro lunches for university students as well as more teachers in public schools. For the conservative Les Républicains, he agreed to their demand to abandon plans to increase taxes on pensioners and doubled down on his previous pledge not to increase taxes on households and companies. “The government will not give up on compromise,” he said. Lecornu’s office earlier sent a statement to reporters saying “continued sabotage” by France’s two largest opposition forces — the hard-left France Unbowed and the far-right National Rally — had made it impossible to pass a budget, even though these two parties don’t hold a majority of seats in parliament, and even though most lawmakers — …

Europe’s year of existential risk – POLITICO

Europe’s year of existential risk – POLITICO

Published by Sam Flores

Activists protest outside Downing street against the recent policies of Donald Trump. | Guy Smallman/Getty Images Meanwhile, European leaders will be forced to publicly ignore Washington’s support for far-right parties, which was clearly spelled out in the new U.S. national security strategy, while privately doing all they can to counter any antiestablishment backlash at the polls. Specifically, the upcoming election in Hungary will be a bellwether for whether the MAGA movement can tip the balance for its ideological affiliates in Europe, as populist, euroskeptic Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is currently poised to lose for the first time in 15 years. Orbán, for his part, has been frantically campaigning to boost voter support, signaling that he and his inner circle actually view defeat as a possibility. His charismatic rival Péter Magyar, who shares his conservative-nationalist political origins but lacks any taint of corruption poses a real challenge, as does the country’s stagnating economy and rising prices. While traditional electoral strategies — financial giveaways, smear campaigns and war fearmongering — have so far proven ineffective for Orbán, …

French PM blames partisanship and presidential hopefuls for budget deadlock – POLITICO

French PM blames partisanship and presidential hopefuls for budget deadlock – POLITICO

Published by Sam Flores

Though a full government shutdown is unlikely — the French government can fall back on a stopgap mechanism that temporarily rolls over the current year’s budget until a new one is adopted — the discord is concerning given Lecornu’s promise to allow lawmakers to debate, amend and vote on a budget as they see fit. In the wake of the Friday vote, Lecornu said he will host party leaders and representatives of labor and trade organizations for talks on key national priorities, among them agriculture, energy, defense spending and deficit reduction. He also restated next year’s final budget with a projected deficit of under 5 percent of GDP. The outcome of these talks could lead to “ad hoc” votes in parliament, Lecornu said, to show that a majority of lawmakers can still find common ground in France’s hung parliament. The first of these votes is expected this week and will concern defense spending. Lecornu is hoping for the budgetary deadlock to be broken with the bill now under review in France’s upper house, the Senate. …