French Prime Minister forces 2026 budget through parliament without a vote

France's Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu made use of a special constitutional power on Tuesday to force part of his 2026 budget ​bill through the deeply divided lower house of parliament ‍without a vote. Lecornu invoked Article 49.3 of the Constitution on the income side of the ​legislation to get it through the lower house, where it had ​become deadlocked after three months of discussions.

The prime minister will have to repeat the measure twice more to enact the full budget into law, facing multiple no-confidence votes tabled by opposition parties, parties the hard-left France Unbowed and far-right National Rally.