France passes budget after months of wrangling and no-confidence motions

France has finally passed a budget for this year after the minority government survived a series of no-confidence votes in a long-running political saga that has unsettled debt markets and alarmed the country’s European partners.The prime minister, Sébastien Lecornu, told parliament on Monday, after months of wrangling, that French people “refuse this disorder and want our institutions to function”.The budget was passed using special constitutional powers that avoided it being submitted to parliament for a vote. But as part of that process, Lecornu and his government faced a series of no-confidence motions. The government survived the final two votes of no confidence on Monday evening.Lecornu managed to push the budget through only because the Socialist party agreed not to vote against the government, in exchange for some concessions including the suspension of Macron’s flagship pension changes, which had sought to gradually raise the retirement age from 62 to 64.Hervé Saulignac, a Socialist MP, told parliament that his party had “done its duty” and “avoided the worst”. He said leaving France without a budget would have been to “add more anguish to the anguish” of the French people.Lecornu had called the budget a “breakthrough”, saying it would boost defence spending by €6.5bn. Although some lawmakers have expressed doubts, the budget aims to bring the deficit down to 5% of the gross domestic product in 2026, from 5.4% in 2025. The French executive was initially targeting 4.6%, but the scrapping of pension changes meant such a reduction of the deficit was not possible, according to the rightwing rapporteur Philippe Juvin.Budget negotiations have consumed the French political class for almost two years after the president, Emmanuel Macron, sparked incredulity by calling a snap election in June 2024, which delivered a hung parliament. A left alliance won the most seats, but fell far short of a majority. The far-right National Rally party won the most votes and became a force to be reckoned with, but did not have a majority. Macron’s centrist grouping lost seats but were still present.Domestic politics has been largely deadlocked since then, leading to a period of instability and government collapses in Europe’s second largest economy.Macron at first appointed the rightwing Michel Barnier prime minister in 2024, who was brought down by parliament only three months later amid a row over the 2025 budget. Then the centrist François Bayrou lasted only nine months before he too was ousted over the proposed 2026 budget. Lecornu, a key Macron ally, was appointed last autumn, before resigning and being reappointed to try to get a budget passed.Lecornu would like to stay in office until 2027, without being ousted. His fragile government is seeking to move beyond the budget on to issues such as a law to protect farmers, and a bill on assisted dying and improved palliative care. But the deadlock in parliament has limited the government’s ability to act on domestic policies.Municipal elections take place across France next month. The presidential election of spring 2027 is now the key focus of national politics.Macron, who cannot stand again for office after two terms as president, is now working almost entirely on foreign policy, pushing Europe to be less dependent on foreign powers, and advocating a harder line in confronting the US president, Donald Trump, over tariffs or the Greenland crisis.The far-right leader Marine Le Pen, who was considered to be one of the contenders for the 2027 presidential election, is currently attending a retrial on appeal over the embezzlement of European parliament funds through an alleged fake jobs scam. She was found guilty last year and banned from running for office for five years, but is seeking to overturn that verdict and sentence.