France's Barnier Budget Survives by Seven Votes as Left Coalition Demands Pension Rollback
Prime Minister Michel Barnier's 2027 austerity budget survived a National Assembly confidence motion by the narrowest margin since the Fifth Republic's founding, with 289 deputies voting to support against 282 opposing. The left-wing Nouveau Front Populaire bloc had tabled an amendment demanding the reversal of Macron-era pension reforms as a condition for support, which Barnier refused. French ten-year bond spreads over German Bunds widened to 82 basis points in the aftermath, a level last seen during the 2011-12 eurozone crisis.