France adopts 2026 state budget after gov't survives no-confidence votes

PARIS - France adopted its 2026 state budget after the government led by Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu survived two no-confidence votes over the issue in the National Assembly on Monday.

The motions, filed separately on Friday by left-wing parliamentary groups including La France Insoumise, the Democratic and Republican Left group (GDR) and the Ecologists, as well as by the far-right National Rally and its ally, the Union of the Right for the Republic (UDR), accused the government of abusing constitutional powers to force the budget through parliament.

The first motion, put forward by 113 left-wing deputies, garnered 260 votes, falling 29 votes short of the 289 required for adoption, according to the National Assembly.

The second motion, tabled by 106 right-wing deputies, was also rejected, receiving 135 votes, well below the threshold needed to bring down the government.

According to the French Constitution, Article 49.3 allows the Prime Minister, with Cabinet approval, to force the passage of a bill (typically finance or social security) through the National Assembly without a vote. The bill is deemed adopted unless a motion of no-confidence is passed.

Lecornu first invoked Article 49.3 in the National Assembly on Jan 20 to push through the revenue side of the budget bill, and used the mechanism again to adopt the expenditure side after his government survived two no-confidence votes on Jan 23. Following another round of no-confidence motions last Tuesday, the government made a third and final use of Article 49.3 on Friday to have the budget adopted in its entirety.

With the no-confidence votes cleared on Monday, France's 2026 state budget was definitively adopted, bringing to an end nearly four months of parliamentary debate and a prolonged political standoff over the budget bill, pending review by the Constitutional Council prior to promulgation.