France’s Lecornu Sacrifices Macron’s Pension Reform to Survive No-Confidence Votes

Welcome back to the Global Brief, where we look forward to a fragile alliance Franceparliament, possible secrecy we Operations inside Venezuelaand coalition building talks in Japan.

Bargain chips

French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu survived two votes of no confidence in the National Assembly on Thursday, avoiding what would have been the second time the French government has collapsed in less than two weeks. But his survival has come at a high price, and with 2026 budget negotiations starting next week, Lecorno is not out of the woods yet.

Welcome back to the Global Brief, where we look forward to a fragile alliance FranceParliament, possible secrecy we Operations inside Venezuelaand coalition building talks in Japan.

Bargain chips

French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu survived two votes of no confidence in the National Assembly on Thursday, avoiding what would have been the second time the French government has collapsed in less than two weeks. But his survival has come at a high price, and with 2026 budget negotiations starting next week, Lecorno is not out of the woods yet.

France is experiencing the worst political crisis in decades. The French Parliament is witnessing a deep division, with both the far left and the far right condemning French President Emmanuel Macron’s controversial plan to reform the retirement system. Such opposition has made passing a deficit-reduction budget nearly impossible, and forced Macron to change his prime minister three times in one year (four times, if we count Lecornu’s resignation earlier this month, who was reappointed just days later).

To survive Thursday’s election, Lecorno sacrificed major economic policy. On Tuesday, he offered to suspend Macron’s pension reform plan (including raising the retirement age) until after the presidential election in 2027. In return, he received the support of the Socialist Party, although seven lawmakers who belong to or belong to the Socialists still broke ranks on Thursday to vote for his ouster.

By delaying the pension reform plan, which sparked months of anti-government protests in 2023 after Macron announced he would go ahead with it, Lecornu risks killing one of Macron’s central economic promises. This may leave the French president with few domestic accomplishments after eight years in office.

However, with the support of the Socialists, a no-confidence motion put forward by the hard-left failed with 271 votes, just 18 fewer than needed to dissolve the four-day Lecorno government. The second proposal, presented by the far-right National Rally party, failed by a larger margin, as only 144 deputies supported it.

“It is clear that this is the moment of truth,” Lecorno told parliamentarians before the vote. “Do not take the nation’s budget and our social security budget hostage.”

Budget negotiations will begin on Monday and are expected to continue for weeks. The Lecorno project proposes reducing Paris’s deficit to between 4.7% and 5% of the country’s GDP. France’s deficit for 2024 is 5.8 percent, nearly double the 3 percent ceiling set by the European Union.

But Lecornu will not be able to rely on the Socialists to pass his budget and give Macron the parliamentary victory he desperately needs. The Socialists warned Lecornu that they would vote against his proposal if their demands were not met. Specifically, the party wants to add a tax on billionaires to the budget. Socialist MP Laurent Bommel said: “Our decision not to vote to topple the government today is in no way an agreement.” “We are not committing to anything.”

Meanwhile, far-left and far-right opponents continue to call for early elections as well as Macron’s resignation before his term ends in 2027. “The Lecornu government is on borrowed time. The battle over the budget begins,” Eric Cockerill of the left-wing France Unencumbered party wrote on X.

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Covert operations in Venezuela US President Donald Trump confirmed on Wednesday that the White House had allowed the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to conduct secret operations inside Venezuela, citing two reasons. “No. 1, they have emptied their prisons in the United States of America,” Trump claimed. “The other thing is drugs, we have a lot of drugs coming from Venezuela, and a lot of Venezuelan drugs are coming by sea.” But he did not mention whether he had ordered such operations to be carried out yet.

In recent weeks, the United States launched a series of attacks on alleged drug smuggling boats in the Caribbean, killing at least 27 people. Earlier this month, a leaked memo revealed that Trump declared drug cartels illegal combatants, saying Washington was now in “armed conflict” with them. On Wednesday, he indicated that the White House was “looking at territory” in Venezuela as possible future targets.

Caracas was quick to denounce Trump’s statements. “This unprecedented statement constitutes an extremely serious violation of international law and the United Nations Charter and forces the community of nations to denounce these clearly immoderate and unreasonable statements,” the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

New coalition partner? Sanae Takaishi, the newly elected head of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party, held coalition-building talks with leaders of the right-wing Japan Innovation Party on Thursday in an attempt to secure enough outside support to make her the country’s next prime minister. The parties are expected to meet again on Friday before making a final decision next Monday.

Takaichi’s bid for the premiership seemed almost certain when the Liberal Democratic Party, which has been in power almost continuously since 1955, chose her to succeed Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba. But the decision by Komeito last Friday to withdraw from the long-running coalition has led to unpredictability in her appointment.

If the Innovation Party chooses to ally with the LDP, Takaichi’s party would be just two seats short of a majority in Japan’s lower house of parliament, making it much easier for Takaichi to take office. But LDP lawmakers must act quickly before the opposition Constitutional Democratic Party persuades Innovation to instead join its alliance with the Democratic Party for the People (DPFP) and back party leader Yuichiro Tamaki for prime minister.

Too dangerous at work. Doctors Without Borders announced on Wednesday that it will permanently close its emergency care center in the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince, due to escalating gang violence. After moving to the Tourgo neighborhood in 2021 for security reasons, the center now joins more than 60 percent of healthcare facilities in Port-au-Prince that have closed or ceased operation in recent years.

“The building has already been hit several times by stray bullets due to its location close to combat zones, making the resumption of activities extremely dangerous for patients and staff alike,” said Jean-Marc Piquet, MSF head of mission in Haiti. In March, gunmen opened fire on four MSF vehicles as staff were evacuated from the facility, forcing the facility to temporarily close.

More than 3,100 people were killed and 1,100 injured across Haiti from January to June, according to the United Nations. New data showed on Wednesday that the violence has displaced a record 1.4 million people, an increase of 36 percent since the end of 2024.

Odds and Ends

While the US passport was once considered the most powerful in the world, it has since lost ground. On Tuesday, the Henley Passport Index, which ranks countries based on the number of destinations a passport holder can visit without needing a visa, moved the United States from 10th to 12th place, tying it with Malaysia. This is the first time Washington has fallen out of the top 10 since the index was created 20 years ago, largely due to Trump’s tough immigration policies. This year’s top spot: Singapore, with 193 visa-free destinations.