The French government survived two votes of no-confidence in parliament on Friday (January 23) over its decision to ram through the income part of the 2026 budget without giving the National Assembly the final say.

A total of 269 lawmakers voted in favor of the no-confidence motion presented by the hard-left France Unbowed together with the Greens and Communists, whereas 288 votes were required to bring down the government. Even fewer backed a second no-confidence motion, brought by the far right.

After the two failed motions, Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu said he was triggering article 49.3 of the Constitution to force through parliament the expenditure part of the 2026 budget bill, a move that will likely trigger further votes of no confidence.

President Emmanuel Macron's government is having to circumvent parliament after months of negotiations failed to deliver a deficit-taming finance bill that would pass in a lower house where no party has a working majority.

In the hunt for a budget, Macron lost two governments and saw France plunged into turmoil rarely seen since the 1958 creation of the Fifth Republic, the current system of government.

With France depending on an emergency rollover budget from last year to keep afloat, Lecornu made last-minute concessions earlier this month to secure the agreement of Socialists to not topple the government if it resorted to using the special constitutional powers.

Far-right leader Marine Le Pen said government opponents who supported Lecornu in the confidence vote would pay the price in future elections, including local elections in March and presidential elections in 2027.

"Don't think that no one is watching you. The French people see you, and they will make you pay for it at the ballot box," Le Pen told lawmakers ahead of the vote. "Not only for the (budgetary) bloodletting you are inflicting on them, but also for the humiliating process you are using."

Lecornu says the budget deficit will not exceed 5% of GDP, below the 5.4% hit in 2025 but still well above the European Union's 3% cap.

The government expects the entire budget to be definitively adopted in the first half of February, one government official said.

DESCRIPCIÓN DE IMÁGENES

PARIS, FRANCE (JANUARY 23, 2026) (FRENCH NATIONAL ASSEMBLY – Access All)

1. PRIME MINISTER SEBASTIEN LECORNU SPEAKING AT NATIONAL ASSEMBLY

2. (SOUNDBITE) (French) PRIME MINISTER SEBASTIEN LECORNU SAYING:

“When debate no longer leads to a conclusion, someone must take responsibility. In my view, holding the government accountable should be neither an easy solution nor a shortcut. It is an instrument of last resort, if not a last-ditch effort.”

3. LAWMAKERS FROM FAR-LEFT PARTY LA FRANCE INSOUMISE (FRANCE UNBOWED) LISTENING

4. (SOUNDBITE) (French) PRIME MINISTER SEBASTIEN LECORNU SAYING:

“I have not invoked the government's responsibility (using article 49:3 of the constitution) to circumvent the institutions of the Fifth Republic. On the contrary, I did it to protect them. But no institution, however robust, can function sustainably if those who embody it abdicate their own responsibilities. Recourse to Article 49, paragraph three, will no longer be possible in the future as it was before. It will no longer be an automatic response. It will no longer be an easy solution.”

5. NATIONAL ASSEMBLY FLOOR

6. (SOUNDBITE) (French) PRESIDENT OF NATIONAL ASSEMBLY, YAEL BRAUN-PRIVET, SAYING

“Herewith the results of the first vote (of no confidence, put forward by France Unbowed lawmakers): the majority required for the adoption of the motion of no confidence is an absolute majority of the members of the Assembly, which are 288. Votes required for adoption, 269. As the required majority was not reached, the motion of censure was not adopted.”

7. GRAPHIC SHOWING 288 VOTES REQUIRED, 269 FOR

8. CHAMBER

9. LEADER OF NATIONAL RALLY GROUP IN NATIONAL ASSEMBLY, MARINE LE PEN, SPEAKING

10. (SOUNDBITE) (French) LAWMAKER AND LEADER OF NATIONAL RALLY GROUP IN NATIONAL ASSEMBLY, MARINE LE PEN, SAYING (SPEAKING AHEAD OF FIRST VOTE):

"In this disastrous affair, the real aim is simply to preserve the illusion of an Elysée power that refuses to admit its disintegration, and even its collapse.”

11. LECORNU, MINISTER FOR PARLIAMENT RELATIONS LAURENT PANIFOUS AND GOVERNMENT SPOKESPERSON MAUD BREGEON LISTENING

12. ASSEMBLY IN SESSION

13. (SOUNDBITE) (French) LAWMAKER AND LEADER OF NATIONAL RALLY GROUP IN NATIONAL ASSEMBLY, MARINE LE PEN, SAYING (SPEAKING AHEAD OF FIRST VOTE):

"The biggest criticism that can be made of you is that to all the problems in France that your friends have created and that you have let slide, you are adding an institutional and even democratic problem. You worsen the discrediting of public discourse and you are needlessly pounding the country. Your project - I dare not call it a budget - is a budgetary Chernobyl, a concrete slab under which you have tried to hide highly radioactive elements.”

14. LECORNU AND MINISTERS LISTENING

15. (SOUNDBITE) (French) LAWMAKER AND LEADER OF NATIONAL RALLY GROUP IN NATIONAL ASSEMBLY, MARINE LE PEN, SAYING (SPEAKING AHEAD OF FIRST VOTE):

"Don't think that no one is watching you. The French people see you, and they will make you pay for it at the ballot box. Not only for the (budgetary) bloodletting you are inflicting on them, but also for the humiliating process you are using."

16. LAWMAKER FROM FAR LEFT PARTY LA FRANCE INSOUMISE (FRANCE UNBOWED), ERIC COQUEREL, APPROACHING PODIUM

17. (SOUNDBITE) (French) LAWMAKER FROM FAR LEFT PARTY LA FRANCE INSOUMISE (FRANCE UNBOWED), ERIC COQUEREL, SAYING:

“Everything about this budget is a scam. Shame on those who wanted that and designed it this way. Shame also on those who would allow it to happen.”

18. BREGEON AND AGRICULTURE MINISTER ANNIE GENEVARD LISTENING

19. (SOUNDBITE) (French) LAWMAKER FROM SOCIALIST PARTY, LAURENT BAUMEL, SAYING:

“The first thing I would like to call to mind this morning, is that no confidence motions are neither a routine nor a game.”

20. LECORNU LISTENING

21. (SOUNDBITE) (French) LAWMAKER FROM SOCIALIST PARTY, LAURENT BAUMEL, SAYING:

“In France in 2026, all intermediary bodies and all citizens feel the need for a strong and stable executive power, capable of taking the necessary steps to make decisions, act, and protect the nation from the world’s disorder. In France in 2026, a government falling is a political crisis. It's a trauma amplified and exacerbated by 24-hour news channels.”

22. BAUMEL SPEAKING