French President

January 15, 2026 6:12 PM

French government survives no-confidence votes, now faces another budget battle

French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu survived two no-confidence votes in parliament on Wednesday, clearing 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), aimed to protest the European Union's trade agreement with the Mercosur bloc. Despite French opposition, EU member states last week approved the signing of the long-debated deal with Argentina, B...

January 14, 2026 6:04 PM

No-confidence votes test French government as another budget battle looms

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. Despite French opposition, EU member states last week approved the signing of the long-debated deal with Argentina,...

November 11, 2025 11:55 AM

France’s Sarkozy back home after court frees him pending appeal

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy was freed from jail and went home on Monday, after a Paris court ruled he could be released while he appeals against his conviction for conspiring to raise funds from Libya. Sarkozy was sent to prison on October 21 after he was found guilty in September of criminal conspiracy over efforts by close aides to procure funds for his 2007 presidential bid from late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. The former conservative leader, who was president from 2007 to 20...

October 16, 2025 5:46 PM

French PM survives no-confidence votes after making pension concession

French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu survived two no-confidence votes in parliament on Thursday, winning crucial backing from the Socialist Party thanks to his pledge to suspend President Emmanuel Macron’s contested pension reform. The two motions presented by the hard-left France Unbowed and the far-right National Rally (RN) secured just 271 and 144 votes respectively - well short of the 289 votes needed to bring down Lecornu's days-old government. Lecornu's offer to mothball the pension...

October 13, 2025 10:44 PM

Ex-French President Sarkozy’s 5-year jail term to start next week, RTL reports

Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy will head to a Paris prison next week, where he will begin an unprecedented five-year prison sentence for criminal conspiracy over attempts to raise 2007 election campaign funds from Libya, RTL reported on Monday. RTL reported that Sarkozy would be sent to Paris' Sante prison on October 21. The Paris financial prosecutor's office said it could neither confirm nor deny the RTL report. Sarkozy's lawyers did not immediately respond to a request for comment....

October 10, 2025 7:53 PM

France’s Macron holds crunch talks with party chiefs as deadline to name a PM nears

President Emmanuel Macron welcomed mainstream political leaders to a crunch meeting at the Elysee ahead of a self-imposed late-Friday deadline to name a new prime minister, as the country's central bank chief warned political turmoil was sapping growth. Macron, 47, is searching for his sixth prime minister in under two years and will need to find a figure whose appeal spans the centre-right to centre-left in order to steer the budget for 2026 through a fragmented and fractious parliament. Ahea...

October 6, 2025 11:01 PM

Macron tasks his outgoing PM with holding last-ditch talks to end crisis

French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday tasked his outgoing prime minister, who had resigned earlier in the day, to hold last-ditch talks with other political parties to try and chart a path out of the crisis. Sebastien Lecornu had tendered his government's resignation only hours after announcing his cabinet line-up, making it the shortest-lived administration in modern French history and deepening the country's political crisis. It was not immediately clear what Lecornu's task would entail...

September 9, 2025 2:15 PM

France’s Macron seeks new prime minister after government’s collapse

French President Emmanuel Macron is seeking his fifth prime minister in less than two years after opposition parties united to kick out centre-right Prime Minister Francois Bayrou over his unpopular plans for budget tightening. Bayrou, handed a 364-194 defeat in a parliamentary confidence vote on Monday, will officially hand in his resignation to Macron during Tuesday. Whoever Macron picks to succeed him will face the near impossible task of uniting parliament and finding ways to get a budget ...

September 9, 2025 10:08 AM

Stalemate or surrender: France’s Macron is left with no good options

The challenge French President Emmanuel Macron faces in choosing his fifth prime minister in under two years lays bare the depth of a political crisis that in many ways is of his own making, and one with no clear path out. Francois Bayrou is set to tender his resignation as prime minister on Tuesday, a day after parliament voted to bring down the government over its plans for taming the budget deficit. Bayrou's predecessor, Michel Barnier, had suffered the same fate over his fiscal plans only ...

July 14, 2025 10:46 AM

France’s Macron announces plan to accelerate military spending

President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday announced a plan to push forward France's defence spending, pledging to double the military budget by 2027 - three years earlier than originally planned - in response to a complex geopolitical moment. France had aimed to double its defence budget from 2017 levels by 2030. However, Macron pledged to reach the target by 2027. A military budget that stood at 32 billion euros ($37.40 billion) in 2017 will rise to 64 billion euros by 2027, with an additional 3.5 b...