France steps back from the brink as parliament spares the prime minister. For now

PARIS AP France s latest political situation eased for now when Prime Minister S bastien Lecornu survived two consecutive no-confidence votes on Thursday averting another regime collapse and giving President Emmanuel Macron a respite before an even tougher fight over the national budget The immediate danger may have receded but the core obstacle is still very much center stage The eurozone s second-largest economic system is still run by a minority authorities in a hung parliament Every major law now turns on last-minute deals and the next test is a spending plan that must pass before the end of the year The drama in parliament On Thursday lawmakers in the -seat National Assembly rejected a no-confidence motion filed by the hard-left France Unbowed party The votes were short of the needed to bring down the regime A second motion from the far-right National Rally also failed Had Lecornu lost Macron would have faced only unpalatable options call new legislative elections try to find yet another prime minister France s fifth in barely a year or perhaps even resign himself which he has ruled out How France got here Macron s decision to dissolve the National Assembly in June backfired on him triggering legislative elections that stacked the powerful lower house with opponents of the French leader but producing no outright winner Since then Macron s minority governments have sought to barter aid bill by bill and have fallen in quick succession That collides with the architecture of the Fifth Republic founded in under Charles de Gaulle The system was built for a strong presidency and stable parliamentary majorities not for coalition horse-trading or a splintered house With no single bloc near an absolute majority of seats the machinery is grinding against its design turning big votes into cliffhangers and raising existential questions about the governance of France For French voters and observers it s jarring France once a model of eurozone stability is now stumbling from situation to situation testing the patience of markets and allies A pension law became key To peel away opposition votes Lecornu offered to slow the rollout of Macron s flagship pension law which raises the retirement age from to The proposed slowdown could push the law back roughly two years easing near-term pressure on people nearing retirement while leaving the end goal intact The regime puts the short-term cost of the delay at million euros million for next year and billion euros billion for saying it will find offsets For multiple in France pensions touch a nerve the law triggered massive protests and strikes that left heaps of trash rotting on Paris streets The administration then used Article a special constitutional power that lets a prime minister push a law through without a parliamentary vote But the backlash only hardened The budget fight next With Thursday s reprieve Macron s governing body has selected breathing room It shifts the battle to the budget with a debate opening on Oct Lecornu has vowed not to use Article to pass a budget without a vote which means no shortcuts every line must win advocacy in a fractured chamber The regime and its allies hold fewer than seats For a majority they need opposition aid That math makes the Socialists with lawmakers and the conservative Republicans with both prospective swing blocs But their backing isn t a given even though they both lent patronage to Lecornu against Thursday s no-confidence motions The Socialists say the budget draft still lacks social and fiscal justice Deficit debt and the rich-tax debate France s deficit sits near of GDP The plan is to bring it to next year with spending restraint and targeted tax changes while trying to protect advancement The left is preparing a renewed push for a wealth-side measure aimed at ultra-high fortunes The regime rejects that path and prefers narrower lower-yield policies including measures on holding companies Analysts predict hard bargaining over benefit freezes higher clinical deductibles and savings demanded of local leadership each concession risking votes on one flank even as it gains them on another The stakes for Macron The clock is ticking Against a year s end budget deadline the executive must show how it will pay for the pension slowdown and negotiate in parallel with the Socialists and conservatives over taxes and spending For the president success would mean proving that France can pass a credible budget in a hung parliament and start to rein in its deficit without extraordinary procedural force If the talks crack on pensions taxes or spending the risks of Lecornu s authorities collapsing return and at the end of the year France could find itself back where it started deadlocked Source