The French prime minister has survived two votes of no confidence that had sought to threaten to topple his fragile, minority government days after it was appointed.
Sébastien Lecornu, a key ally of the centrist president, Emmanuel Macron, told parliament on Thursday that lawmakers must choose to take part in “parliamentary debate” on next year’s budget or sink the government and create “political chaos”.
A total of 271 lawmakers voted in favour of the first no-confidence motion, put forward by the left’s France Unbowed (La France Insoumise), only 18 votes short of the 289 votes needed to topple the government.
A second no-confidence vote, tabled by Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally, won 144 votes. It had been expected to gain far fewer votes because it did not have the support of France Unbowed.
Although the government survived, the fact that the first vote was closer than expected highlighs the difficulties faced by Lecornu as he prepares for months of debate over next year’s budget.
The government owes its survival to the Socialist party leadership, which held back from joining the France Unbowed vote after Lecornu said he would suspend Macron’s landmark pension changes. The move to freeze the changes, which had begun to raise the pension age from 62 to 64 over several years, was a significant concession.
Nonetheless, seven lawmakers from the Socialist parliament group broke ranks with the party leadership and voted to bring the government down.
Lecornu must now try to get a 2026 budget for the European Union’s second-largest economy through parliament’s bitterly divided lower house before 31 December.
Mathilde Panot, the head of the parliamentary group of France Unbowed, said: “There were only a few votes lacking to bring down Lecornu and his government. Our first thought is for the country, for all those who will suffer the cruel politics that have been announced for the budget.”
The Socialist leader, Olivier Faure, said his party would use the ensuing debate to try to unpick an “unfair budget”.
Jordan Bardella, the president of National Rally, wrote on social media that the government was on shaky ground. “A majority cobbled together through horse-trading managed today to save their positions, at the expense of the national interest,” he said.
Yaël Braun-Pivet, the centrist leader of parliament, said: “Now we all have to roll up our sleeves.” She said that throughout the budget debate, the government would have to find “dialogue and compromise”.
France has lurched from crisis to crisis since Macron’s gamble on a snap election last year led to an inconclusive result. Parliament remains divided between the three blocs: the left, the far right and the centre, with no clear majority.
