Elizabeth Pino
PARIS, Jan 14 (Reuters) – The French government faced two no-confidence votes on Wednesday that are not expected to pass, clearing the way for the government to focus on another budget showdown in the coming days.
The no-confidence motion proposed by the far-right National Rally (RN) and the far-left French Incumbent Movement (LFI) was aimed at protesting the EU’s trade agreement with the Mercosur bloc.
EU member states last week approved the long-debated deal with Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay despite France’s objections. RN and LFI accuse the government of not doing enough to stop it.
“The French government never actually took steps to prevent the agreement from passing,” LFI said.
Afternoon voting
Both motions will be considered by the lower house of parliament in the afternoon.
The Socialists have ruled out supporting them, while conservative Republicans have said they will not vote to denounce the government over Mercosur.
“France’s censure motion will achieve nothing. Now the battle will be played out in the European Parliament,” Republican leader Bruno Retaileleau told Europe 1/CNews.
Government insiders say Prime Minister Sebastian Le Cornu will let the no-confidence motion proceed before returning to contentious budget talks.
Next on the agenda: Tough budget negotiations
One of several options on the country’s 2026 budget is for the prime minister to invoke Article 49.3 of the constitution and pass the finance bill without a vote, after negotiating the text with all groups except the RN and LFI, a government source said. This will almost certainly lead to more no-confidence motions.
Sources said lawmakers are eager to end weeks of wrangling over the budget, even if it means the country’s deficit remains close to 5%.
President Emmanuel Macron hopes to pass the budget in January and is “neutral” on how to achieve that goal, according to those accompanying him.
Hong Guoguo
Government spokesperson Maud Bregan said on Tuesday that “nothing has been ruled out” in passing the budget. Le Cornou warned last week that parliament could be dissolved if his government fell, but later softened his tone: “I neither want to be condemned nor to be dissolved. My fight is for stability and against chaos,” he told Le Parisien.
France’s political situation has been fragile since Macron lost his parliamentary majority in 2022.
His problems worsened when he unexpectedly called early legislative elections in mid-2024, resulting in a hung parliament splitting into three different ideological blocs: his centre-right coalition, the left and the far-right RN.
(Reporting by Elizabeth Pinault; Additional reporting by Brandin Eno and Zhifan Liu; Writing by Ingrid Melander; Editing by Hugh Lawson)