PARIS — French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu will risk his government’s survival by ramming a state budget through parliament without a vote to break a monthslong legislative deadlock.
The PM explained Monday that he would on Tuesday invoke Article 49.3, a constitutional backdoor that allows the government to pass legislation without a parliamentary vote, to enact the part of the budget that deals with tax revenue.
Opposition parties can respond to the move by calling for a no-confidence vote that, if successful, topples the government and blocks the bill in question. Far-left France Unbowed heavyweight Mathilde Panot said before Lecornu’s announcement that her party would respond by filing a motion of no confidence.
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 legislature’s fractured nature had made it impossible.
“We’re going to stop putting on a show in front of the whole world over numerous weeks and allow ourselves to give a budget to the nation,” Lecornu said.
The success of the PM’s maneuver will likely depend on getting the Socialist Party, who have played a kingmaker role throughout Lecornu’s tenure, to abstain from voting for any censure. Boris Vallaud, a high-ranking Socialist, said Monday the party could play ball thanks to concessions announced Friday, which include €1 lunches for university students and more spending on social housing.
The government is currently being financed by an emergency measure passed late last year that effectively just rolls over the 2025 budget into the new year. That legislative bandage does nothing to cut France’s chronically high budget deficit, which Lecornu reiterated Friday must be brought down to 5 percent of gross domestic product this year.
French government to force through 2026 budget, face no confidence vote
Source: Viral Showbiz Pinay
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