Paris, 14 January 2026 (dpa/MIA) — France's centrist government has survived two no-confidence votes.

Only 256 and 142 of the 577 members of the French National Assembly withdrew their confidence in the minority government in votes held on Wednesday.

Marine Le Pen's far-right nationalists and the left-wing party La France Insoumise had each requested a vote against Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu's government over dissatisfaction with the Mercosur trade agreement.

In doing so, they also strongly criticized President Emmanuel Macron, although his office was not at stake in the vote.

The European Union's planned free trade agreement with four South American Mercosur countries — Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay — had been under negotiation since 1999.

According to the European Commission, the new free trade area, with more than 700 million inhabitants, would be the largest of its kind in the world.

At a meeting of representatives from the 27 EU countries last week, a sufficient number of participants voted in favor of concluding the deal. The signing is scheduled to take place in Paraguay on Saturday.

France has repeatedly voiced loud criticism of the agreement. Despite several concessions, Macron ultimately announced that he would vote against the deal.

LFI now accuses Macron and the government of not having opposed the agreement strongly enough. The far-right nationalists complain that France's interests have not been adequately represented.

The centrist government also survived two votes of no confidence brought by LFI and the nationalists shortly after it took office in October. At that time, however, the vote was closer.