Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu and Finance Minister Roland Lescure, at the Assemblée Nationale in Paris, January 13, 2026. STEPHANIE LECOCQ / REUTERS
After three months of fruitless debate, Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu announced on Monday, January 19, during a specially convened cabinet meeting, that he would use Article 49.3 of the Constitution to push through the state budget. He had initially ruled out this solution in the name of seeking compromise, but ultimately faced a stalemate in debates at the Assemblée Nationale.
By making this choice, Lecornu put his government’s survival on the line, leaving it vulnerable to a censure motion. Le Monde explains what you need to know to understand how this mechanism works and what its potential consequences are.
Article 49.3
A government can resort to Paragraph 3 of Article 49, which allows the prime minister, “after deliberation in the Council of Ministers,” to force a bill through the Assemblée Nationale with no vote. Because Lecornu’s government has no majority in the Assemblée Nationale, it will use this provision to pass the 2026 budget bill.
Since the 2008 constitutional reform, the use of Article 49.3 has been restricted to one bill per parliamentary session, except for budget bills, for which the government may invoke it without restriction.
To get the state budget adopted using Article 49.3, Lecornu will have to trigger the procedure three times: First for the section on revenues, second for expenditures and third for the entire bill when it returns to the Assemblée nationale after examination by the Sénat.
The catch
Each time Article 49.3 is invoked, MPs have 24 hours to file a motion of no confidence. If this motion is backed by more than half of the sitting members of the Assemblée, the bill is rejected and the government collapses. Conversely, if no motion is submitted or if it fails to win a majority, the bill passes and the government remains in office.
In this voting procedure, which is the opposite of a standard vote, only votes in favor of the motion of no confidence are counted. Unlike with other bills, there is no difference between abstention and voting against.
Translation of an original article published in French on lemonde.fr; the publisher may only be liable for the French version.