France’s Prime Minister Faces Crucial Confidence Votes, but Expected to Survive After Pension Reform Concession

French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu is expected to survive two no-confidence votes in Parliament on Thursday after offering to suspend President Emmanuel Macron’s landmark pension reform in a bid to win over the left.

Lecornu — who, before being reappointed last week, had already become France’s shortest-serving prime minister in modern times — was facing the possibility of an even briefer second term until he agreed to concessions on the controversial reform on Tuesday.

The Socialists, whose support is key to Lecornu’s political survival, welcomed his proposal and announced they would not back either of the two no-confidence motions scheduled for Thursday — one tabled by the far-left and another by the far-right National Rally.

Even so, the outcome is expected to be tight, with potential dissenters among the Socialists and the conservative Republicans. Lecornu’s opponents currently control 265 seats, just short of the 289 votes needed to topple the government.

On Wednesday, Lecornu told lawmakers that he would introduce an amendment to the upcoming November social security financing bill to formally suspend the reform.

By freezing the pension overhaul, Lecornu is effectively threatening to undo one of Macron’s key economic legacies at a time when France’s public finances are under severe strain, leaving the president with few domestic achievements after nearly eight years in power.

France is grappling with its deepest political turmoil in decades, as successive minority governments struggle to push deficit-cutting budgets through a fractured legislature divided into three rival ideological blocs.

Meanwhile, the Socialist Party on Wednesday set its sights on a new wealth tax for billionaires as debate began in Parliament over the 2026 budget — signaling that the left’s support for Lecornu may come with a heavy fiscal price.