French PM expected to survive two no-confidence votes on day of reckoning

French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu faces two perilous votes of no-confidence in parliament on Thursday but is likely to survive after pledging to suspend President Emmanuel Macron's landmark pension reform to win support from the left.



Lecornu, already France's shortest-serving prime minister in modern times before he was re-appointed last week, had faced the prospect of an even shorter second stint in office until he made the pensions reform concession on Tuesday.



The Socialists, who hold the key to Lecornu's political survival, welcomed his move, saying they would not support the two no-confidence motions on Thursday, one from the far-left and the other from the far-right National Rally.



Despite Lecornu's offer to mothball the reform until after the 2027 presidential election, the result of the votes is expected to be close, with potential rebels from the Socialists or conservative Republicans injecting a measure of doubt.