Rabat – French President Emmanuel Macron warned on Tuesday that he would dissolve the National Assembly and call new elections if Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu’s new government loses a no-confidence vote.
Lecornu, who only took office on Monday, is already facing two no-confidence motions filed by the left-wing France Unbowed and the far-right National Rally parties.
France is facing a growing political crisis, with Lecornu’s government struggling to win enough support in parliament. The Socialist Party, which holds a key number of votes, has not yet decided whether to support the government or help topple it.
Macron’s warning came as his popularity hit record lows. Speaking through government spokeswoman Maud Bregeon, he said that any no-confidence motion would be treated as a “dissolution motion,” meaning that if Lecornu’s Cabinet is voted out, parliament will be dissolved and new elections will be held.
In his first policy speech before the National Assembly, Lecornu tried to calm tensions by announcing that the unpopular pension reform – which raised the retirement age from 62 to 64 – would be suspended until the next presidential election in 2027.
The government will not force any law using Article 49.3, Lecornu said, referring to a constitutional measure that allows the government to pass laws without a vote but risks triggering a no-confidence motion.
He also said he wanted to build bridges beyond party lines and promised that “parliament will have the final say.”
Lecornu’s 2026 draft budget includes deep spending cuts. The plan would eliminate more than 3,000 public sector jobs, freeze pensions and social security payments, and impose a temporary surtax on individuals earning more than €250,000 a year.
The prime minister said the goal was to reduce France’s deficit to below 5% of GDP. “I will not be the prime minister of a public finance crisis,” he told lawmakers.
However, France’s independent fiscal watchdog, the Haut Conseil des Finances Publiques, warned that the government’s budget is based on overly optimistic forecasts and may not meet its targets.
Opposition parties from both the left and the right harshly criticized Lecornu’s speech and budget proposal. France Unbowed party leader Manuel Bompard dismissed the suspension of the pension reform as a “delaying tactic,” saying it only buys time until the 2027 elections.
Green Party leader Marine Tondelier accused Lecornu of ignoring the climate crisis in his speech, calling his government “worse than François Bayrou’s.” The Greens later confirmed they would support a no-confidence vote.
Communist Party chief Fabien Roussel called the pension reform suspension a “first victory” for the protests and strikes that shook France last year.
President Macron has been under increasing pressure in recent weeks. Many opposition figures have called on him to resign or hold new elections. Even some of his former allies, such as ex-Prime Minister Édouard Philippe, have started to distance themselves from him.
