French Prime Minister Survives No-Confidence Vote

By Makini Brice, Elizabeth Pineau and Dominique Vidalon

PARIS (Reuters) – French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou passed the first test of his new minority government on Thursday by surviving a no-confidence vote called by the hard left after the centre-left Socialist Party did not support the motion.

The far-right National Rally (RN) party, led by Marine Le Pen, had also indicated it would not support the motion.

This outcome means President Emmanuel Macron’s government can continue without being solely dependent on the far-right. However, Bayrou’s administration is still weak and faces challenges, particularly with passing the 2025 budget, which led to the ousting of his predecessor, Michel Barnier.

During the vote, 131 lawmakers supported the motion, significantly short of the 288 votes required for adoption.

National Assembly President Yael Braun-Pivet stated, “The required majority has not been reached; the motion is not adopted.”

Concerns had been raised about the Socialists’ stance. Bayrou sought their backing to avoid being reliant on the RN, including by offering to renegotiate a 2023 pension reform disfavored by the left.

Initially, Socialist Party leader Olivier Faure informed Bayrou, “We will not censor you (today),” at the start of the National Assembly debate.

Political instability in France, which saw four prime ministers last year, has unsettled markets. Faure had previously remarked that Bayrou’s promise to reopen pension reform discussions was insufficient, indicating that his party would endorse the no-confidence vote unless their demands were specifically addressed.

To gain the Socialists’ support, Bayrou detailed a series of additional concessions in a letter, including:

• Abandoning cuts to state medical reimbursements.
• Increasing hospital spending beyond initial budgets.
• Dropping plans to cut 4,000 teachers.

Bayrou also agreed to maintain the concessions already made by Barnier, which included postponing an electricity tax increase and raising all pensions according to inflation, costing 3.6 billion euros ($3.7 billion).

Additionally, Bayrou committed to implementing tax hikes worth 21 billion euros that Barnier had planned, specifically targeting the wealthy and large corporations.

($1 = 0.9705 euros)