French prime minister survives parliamentary no-confidence vote

On Thursday, the French government narrowly avoided a parliamentary no-confidence motion, granting the country a brief respite from severe political instability, at least until another fierce battle over its budget is expected.

This outcome gives Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu only a short window to pass the budget before the end of this calendar year, following weeks of political upheaval.

According to The New York Times, the no-confidence motion, tabled by the far-left party La France Insoumise, garnered support from only 271 lawmakers in the National Assembly, which has 577 seats. This fell short of the 289 votes required to topple Lecornu and his cabinet.

Lecornu’s survival offers France a moment to catch its breath after weeks of political instability that had left the country deeply uncertain about its future and put pressure on its economy. Had the motion succeeded, it would have marked the second time in less than two weeks that the French government was toppled.

However, Thursday’s outcome was largely expected, as Lecornu had spent the past week proposing to postpone the unpopular pension reform that would have raised the retirement age.