French Prime Minister Lecornu survives the vote of confidence, but the breathing will not last long

France’s new prime minister, Sébastien Lecorneau, has given himself a breather after winning two no-confidence motions tabled by the opposition.

In the narrowest vote, a motion sponsored by the far left fell short of the 18 votes of 289 needed to topple it.

It means that after just five days in office, Lecorneux has survived the first major test in parliament and can now focus on the task of passing the 2026 budget.

Any relief for the prime minister is likely to be short-lived, with the far left and far right still trying to unseat him. And the socialists, who threw a lifeline in the no-confidence motions, made it clear that they will not be so lenient next time.

Moreover, any tactical victory that allowed the government to hang on for the time being was more than offset by the enormous damage to France’s reputation caused by weeks of confusion and capitulation.

Appointed by President Emmanuel Macron four weeks ago, then reappointed in chaotic scenes on Friday after resigning on Monday, Lecorneau has survived only thanks to major concessions made to the left.

To buy the support of the Socialist Party, which has around 65 MPs, the prime minister has promised to freeze Macron’s most important economic reform of his second term – raising the retirement age to 64.

But he also gave another, perhaps more important, gift to the opposition that has major implications for the chances of getting a budget through in time for the year-end deadline.

By pledging not to resort to the constitutional arrangement known as 49:3 – which allows governments to impose laws without a vote – Lecorne handed final control over the budget to parties in parliament.

It’s a huge power shift, reflecting the decline of presidential power since Macron failed to dissolve parliament in July 2024. For many observers, it heralds a return, for better or worse, to the partisan politicking that was a hallmark of the pre-1958 Fourth Republic.

By assuring MPs that they, not the government, would have the final say on the future budget, Lecorneuw managed to convince the Socialists that he was serious about marking a real “break” from previous Macronite administrations.

But he may also have given up any prospect of debt reduction with the belt-tightening that money markets and the European Union demand.

The draft budget tabled by Lecornu on Tuesday aims to reduce the deficit to 4.7% of economic output (GDP) by saving 30 billion euros (£26 billion), with spending pressure on the health sector and local government.

But socialists joined the rest of the left and the far right in denouncing the text as a betrayal of the less well-off.

Party leader Olivier Faure said he would have no qualms about backing another no-confidence vote if the offending parts of the budget were not removed.

France’s National Assembly has been split three ways for the past 15 months, with a center-right bloc of under 200 MPs pitted against a left-wing alliance of roughly the same size and a far-right bloc of around 140, plus some independents.

None of the three prime ministers since then has been able to find a credible majority.

Weeks of wrangling in Paris have prompted warnings of growing public disenchantment with politics – a spectacle that seems to confirm the idea that the main goal of most politicians is simply to stay in power.

President Macron, who is blamed for the crisis by most French voters, has seen his approval rating drop to just 14%. He has been in office for eight years, and the far right and far left have called for his resignation before the end of his second term in 18 months.

According to his former adviser, veteran essayist and presidential confidant Alain Minck, Macron “must now remain the worst president of the Fifth Republic.”

Mink said Macron had come to office promising to act as a bulwark against the far right, but had left the National Assembly at the gates of power.

“If you look around,” Mink said, “the Germans are petrified of what the French collapse will do to the economy. The British are petrified of the strategic implications. The Italians are laughing at us because we’ve always laughed at them.”

“In America, President Trump says that the fool Macron got what he deserved. Only in Russia are they smiling.”