The French Government has once again survived a no-confidence vote, spared by the Socialist Party’s decision not to bring it down.
A motion of censure filed by the left-wing La France Insoumise (LFI) over the budget fell just 19 votes short of the 288 needed for adoption.
All parties in the left-wing bloc from LFI, the Greens and the Communists voted in favour, as did the National Rally (RN) and its ally the Union of the Right for the Republic (UDR).
Several Socialist MPs broke ranks and voted in favour of censure, although not in sufficient numbers to bring the government down.
Socialist leader Olivier Faure justified the move by warning that a collapse of the government would almost certainly trigger new general elections and potentially give the majority in parliament to the RN.
“If it means ending up with a majority that is more right-wing or even far-right, then I would be betraying the French people who trust us,” Faure said on January 20.
The Socialists argued that the latest version of the budget represented “progress” such as increased top-up benefits for the lowest-paid workers and the introduction of one-euro meals for students.
The move angered the LFI de facto leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who warned that the Socialist Party would pay for this move in the upcoming mayoral elections.
“It would have taken just 19 votes to censure the government. The budget of the new Attal, Faure, Wauquiez majority will be applied, with its billions in cuts to health care and public services. The PS [Socialist Party] is stealing 65 opposition votes from the NFP [New Popular Front]. We must remember that in the municipal elections,” Jean-Luc Melenchon said today.
LFI had tabled the motion after Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu invoked Article 49.3 of the Constitution to force through parts of the 2026 budget without a parliamentary vote.
He defended his move by emphasising the fact that no consensus is possible in the French National Assembly and that “France needs a budget”.
Lecornu’s decision marked a shift in French parliamentary politics. Last year, two predecessors, Michel Barnier and François Bayrou, were ousted during budget talks.
Today, MPs also voted on a second motion of censure tabled by the RN but it was rejected by the National Assembly as no left-wing MPs wanted to work with the party.
De facto RN leader Marine Le Pen accused Lecornu of betraying both MPs and the country by invoking Article 49.3 to force the budget through parliament.
“Everything should have led you to resign,”Le Pen told the National Assembly today.
The French Government is likely to face another no-confidence motion over budget spending after Lecornu once again invoked Article 49.3 to bypass a parliamentary vote today.
