By Elizabeth Pineau and Gabriel Stargardter
PARIS (Reuters) -Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu will address parliament on Tuesday to spell out his budget priorities, hoping to win over enough Socialists to stave off losing a no-confidence vote that would plunge France further into the political mire.
The far left and far right have already filed their own no-confidence motions which will be voted on on Thursday morning. Lecornu will lose unless he can convince the Socialists – who plan to file their own no-confidence bill – to back the budget.
France is in the midst of its worst political crisis in decades as a succession of minority governments seek to push deficit-reducing budgets through a truculent legislature split into three distinct ideological blocs.
PROPOSES 30 BILLION EUROS IN CUTS
Should Lecornu fall this week, experts believe President Emmanuel Macron would have little choice but to dissolve parliament and call new legislative elections.
Government spokeswoman Maud Bregeon said on Tuesday after a Macron-led cabinet meeting that no-confidence motions were essentially motions of dissolution.
Lecornu is under pressure to cut France’s gaping deficit, but while the left wants the super-rich to pay more and a repeal of Macron’s 2023 pension reform, the right balks at tax hikes and wants greater austerity.
Lecornu presented his budget to some lawmakers on Tuesday, proposing 30 billion euros ($35 billion) in cuts, and targeting a deficit of 4.7%. France’s independent fiscal watchdog said those plans were wishful thinking, and his belt-tightening measures may fall short – or never materialise if he falls.
He is due to address lawmakers in parliament from 1300 GMT, then his government formally presents the details of the budget to a parliamentary commission at 1700 GMT.
Lecornu, 39, was already France’s shortest-serving prime minister in modern times before he retook the job late last week after resigning, but now faces the prospect of an even shorter second stint in office if he loses the no-confidence vote.
Macron has burned through five prime ministers in less than two years. He has so far refused to call another election or resign.
French economist Philippe Aghion, named one of the three winners of the 2025 Nobel Prize in Economics on Monday, said he hoped a path out of the budget mess could be found. “I hope there will be a compromise because the tragedy for France is to experience political instability,” he told reporters in Paris.
“If there is another censure, it would be dramatic for France. Our interest rates would continue to rise, our spread would continue to rise, it would be dramatic. We must absolutely avoid censure and still arrive at a budget.”
CALL FOR CROSS-PARTY CONSENSUS
A source close to Macron said coalition governments were commonplace across Europe, and France needed to get better at building cross-party consensus.
“If we get through this week at the National Assembly, we will enter a new political phase,” the source said.
The Socialists, who are themselves split between centrist and harder-left factions, met on Tuesday to decide whether to topple the government. Only around 25 Socialist lawmakers would need to support a no-confidence measure for Lecornu to fall.
“The Socialists’ collective position will depend on whether the prime minister gives up on major, significant points, in particular regarding the pension reform, but not only that. It will also depend on what he says about fiscal justice,” party spokesman Arthur Delaporte said on Sud Radio.
($1 = 0.8649 euros)
(Reporting by Gabriel Stargardter; Additional report by Marco Trujillo; Editing by Alison Williams)
