Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu is set to unveil his draft budget and key policies to a divided French parliament, with the fate of pension reform taking centre stage. Lawmakers and citizens alike watch closely for signals on the contentious issue.

Paris

French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu is preparing to present his budget and policy agenda to parliament, with significant attention on the government's controversial pension reform. The reform, which was pushed through parliament in 2023, remains highly unpopular and has prompted opposition parties to threaten a vote of no confidence unless it is immediately suspended and the government pledges not to use Article 49.3, a constitutional mechanism for passing legislation without a majority.

The government faces mounting pressure as the Socialists, Greens, Communists, and dissident Republicans consider joining forces with the far right and radical left to potentially bring down the administration. The outcome hinges on whether Lecornu will make concessions regarding the pension reform and the use of Article 49.3, as well as whether the Socialists will follow through on their threats if their demands are not met.

French parliament awaits Lecornu’s pension reform decision

Today being seen as a moment of truth for the French Prime Minister. Walk us through what's going to happen. Well as you outlined this morning he will be presenting his budget to his cabinet as well as President Macron and then this afternoon he'll be laying out his policies, his plan for governing to the Parliament. Now as you say the big question is what happens with the pension reform. We expect his budget to be slightly less austere than the last couple that have been presented but the difference likely marginal but crucially as you say the socialists have said they will pull the plug on this government, they will vote the government down, they will join the other parties voting them down. If there isn't an immediate and complete suspension of the extremely unpopular pension reform forced through Parliament in 2023 as well as a commitment by this government which is already hinted that there would be but a commitment by this government that it will no longer resort to the 49.3 article of the Constitution that allows them to force bills through Parliament without a majority. Now of course the Elysée Palace said on Friday when Sébastien Lecornu was reappointed to the office of Prime Minister that he had carte blanche to do what was necessary to get France that budget by the end of the year. That said this will be the moment of truth, does he really have that full freedom? The pension reform was of course Emmanuel Macron's baby, he was willing to fight for it with his teeth so the question will really be did he have that freedom? Has he chosen to use it to go there and as such will his government live to see another few days? Well this government did already survive longer than the last one didn't it Antonia, more than 14 hours but there are votes of no confidence that have already been tabled. Well as you say one from the far right one from the radical left and in terms of the parties that are already committed to voting no confidence you have those two, you also have the Greens and the Communists and a group of dissident Republicans closely aligned with the far-right National Rally. Between them they lack about 25 votes for the government to be overthrown tomorrow evening. Those votes could of course come from the Socialist Party if they're not satisfied with what they hear this afternoon. There are some within the Socialist Party who are more gung-ho about following that, about voting down the government, others much less but they would of course likely lose a lot of credibility if they don't follow through on applying the kind of following through on the threats they've made of toppling the government if concessions aren't given. Okay Antonia Kurrigan will be following it all for us throughout the day for now so thanks very much indeed Antonia Kurrigan there at the Elysee Palace.

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