No-confidence votes test French government as another budget battle looms
By Elizabeth Pineau
Wed, January 14, 2026 at 2:40 PM UTC
2 min read
French government faces two no-confidence motions in parliament
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French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu gestures as he speaks during a debate before votes on two no-confidence motions against the French government tabled by members of parliament of La France Insoumise (France Unbowed - LFI) and the Rassemblement National (National Rally - RN), in response to the government's handling of the EU-Mercosur trade deal, during a session at the National Assembly in Paris, France, January 14, 2026. REUTERS/Sarah Meyssonnier
By Elizabeth Pineau
PARIS, Jan 14 (Reuters) - The French government faces two no-confidence votes on Wednesday that are not expected to pass, which would clear the way for the government to focus on yet another budget showdown in the coming days.
The no-confidence motions, filed by the far-right National Rally (RN) and hard-left France Unbowed (LFI), aim to protest the European Union's trade agreement with the Mercosur bloc.
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Despite French opposition, EU member states last week approved the signing of the long-debated deal with Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. The RN and LFI accuse the government of not doing enough to block it.
"Inside the country, you are a government of vassals serving the rich. Outside, you are humiliating our nation before the European Commission and the U.S. empire," chief LFI lawmaker Mathilde Panot told the government, speaking in parliament ahead of Wednesday's no-confidence motion votes.
VOTES IN THE AFTERNOON
The Socialist Party has ruled out backing the no-confidence motions and the conservative The Republicans said they would not vote to censure the government over Mercosur.
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“A motion of censure in France achieves nothing. It’s now in the European Parliament that the battle (regarding Mercosur) will take place,” The Republicans leader Bruno Retailleau told Europe 1/CNews.
Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu said the no-confidence votes were further delaying fraught debates on the country's 2026 budget, which he said political leaders should instead focus on.
NEXT ON THE AGENDA: TOUGH BUDGET TALKS
One of several options regarding the 2026 budget would be for Lecornu to invoke Article 49.3 of the Constitution to push through the finance bill without a vote, after negotiating a text with all groups except the RN and LFI, one government source said. That would almost certainly lead to more motions of no confidence.
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Lawmakers are eager to end weeks of wrangling over the budget, even if it means the country's deficit remains near 5%, sources said.
President Emmanuel Macron, according to his entourage, wants a budget adopted in January and is "neutral" on how to achieve that.
HUNG PARLIAMENT
Government spokeswoman Maud Bregeon said on Tuesday that "nothing is excluded" to pass the budget.
France's political situation has been fragile since 2022, when Macron lost his majority in parliament.
His problems worsened when he unexpectedly called early legislative elections in mid-2024, only to deliver a hung parliament split between three distinct ideological blocs: his centre-right alliance, the left, and the far-right RN.
(Reporting by Elizabeth Pineau; Additional reporting by Blandine Henault and Zhifan Liu; Writing by Ingrid Melander; Editing by Hugh Lawson)