Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu faces two no-confidence motions this week as France’s political disaster deepens.
Revealed On 14 Oct 2025
France’s embattled prime minister says he backs suspending a pension reform till after the 2027 presidential election in a bid to finish the political turmoil that has gripped the nation for months.
Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu, 39, introduced on Tuesday that he helps pausing an unpopular reform that raised the age of retirement from 62 to 64 within the hopes of securing sufficient votes to outlive two no-confidence votes.
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“I’ll suggest to parliament this autumn that we droop the 2023 pension reform till the presidential election. There will likely be no improve within the retirement age from now till January 2028,” he promised lawmakers throughout his coverage speech, responding to a key request from the Socialists, a swing group in parliament essential to his cupboard’s survival.
President Emmanuel Macron signed into law the invoice to boost the retirement age, a signature financial reform that turned the most important home problem of Macron’s second mandate as he confronted widespread common opposition to the modifications and in addition sliding private recognition.
Hundreds of thousands protested towards the change in 2023 in cities and cities throughout the nation.
Lecornu has confronted an uphill battle since being appointed prime minister in early September. On the time of his appointment, he was the fifth prime minister in lower than two years and confronted deep political divides and a excessive debt load.
He ultimately stepped down from the submit in early October, additional deepening the nation’s long-running political disaster. Macron then reappointed Lecornu as prime minister final week.
Lecornu faces two no-confidence motions by the hard-left France Unbowed and far-right Nationwide Rally events. The 2 events don’t maintain sufficient seats to topple Lecornu’s authorities on their very own, however the prime minister might be ousted if the Socialist Social gathering had been to affix forces with them.
The chief of the Socialists within the Nationwide Meeting stated the choice to droop the pension reform was a victory for the left.
Boris Vallaud didn’t explicitly say if his occasion would vote towards the 2 motions of no confidence this week, however he stated he believed in parliamentary debate and he could be guaranteeing the prime minister’s pledges be changed into actions.
Cyrielle Chatelain confirmed on Tuesday that France’s Greens occasion will help a no-confidence movement.
Earlier on Tuesday, Macron had warned that any vote to topple Lecornu’s cupboard would power him to dissolve parliament and name elections.
France, the eurozone’s second largest economic system, is going through deep financial turmoil as Lecornu fights to maintain his cupboard alive lengthy sufficient to move an austerity price range by the top of the yr. Throughout a speech on Thursday, he warned suspending the pension reform would price about 400 million euros ($464m) in 2026 and 1.8 billion euros ($2.1bn) the yr after and it needs to be offset by financial savings.
France’s ratio of debt to its gross home product is the European Union’s third highest after Greece and Italy and is near twice the 60-percent restrict fastened by EU guidelines.
France has been rocked by protests in current months. In September, the Block Every little thing marketing campaign spurred a nationwide wave of antigovernment protests that crammed streets with burning barricades and tear fuel as demonstrators rallied towards price range cuts and political instability.
In October, about 195,000 people, together with 24,000 in Paris, turned out for one more day of nationwide strikes on the urging of French commerce unions. The protests had been triggered by widespread opposition to an austerity price range that the federal government has been attempting to push by parliament.