French PM survives no-confidence vote

PARIS: French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou on Wednesday survived a no-confidence vote in parliament, winning some breathing space after less than two months in office but still facing an uncertain future.

Bayrou, a veteran centrist named by President Emmanuel Macron in December to end months of political crisis, on Monday used a controversial constitutional article to ram his cost-cutting budget through parliament without a vote. But the use of this mechanism, article 49.3 of the constitution, allows opposition parties to put forward a no-confidence motion, and the bid to topple the government was duly proposed by the hard-left France Unbowed party (LFI), backed by the Communists and the Greens.

But while Bayrou is nowhere near having a majority in the National Assembly, the Socialists and far-right National Rally (RN) both said they would not back two no-confidence motions put forward by the hard left.

In the end, the motion concerning the budget gathered 128 votes, well short of the 289 votes needed to topple the government, which still needs approval from the upper-house Senate for the draft to become law.

A second no-confidence motion, targeted at the government´s social security financing plan, was also on Wednesday´s agenda, and also expected to fail. But observers said that Wednesday´s vote, while a victory, secured little more than a reprieve for the embattled premier.

“Passive support from both the Socialists and Marine Le Pen´s far right for Bayrou will end once a 2025 budget is fully enacted in the next few days,” risk analysis firm Eurasia Group said, giving a 70 percent chance that the government would “fall in the next few months”.