French PM Bayrou survives no-confidence vote

French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou on Tuesday survived a no-confidence vote but his future hangs by a thread after barely half a year in the post.

The motion of no-confidence against Bayrou’s government was put forward by the Socialist Party (PS) after the collapse of talks on pension reforms.

The motion received just 189 votes out of the 289 needed to bring down the government.

It had broad support across the left but did not receive the backing of the far-right National Rally (RN) under Marine Le Pen.

Bayrou does not have a majority in parliament’s lower house, the National Assembly, and the vote underscored the fragility of his position and the loss of the Socialists whose support he had until now relied on to stay in power.

While centrist veteran Bayrou publicly dismissed the move as a “joke”, he has been fuming in private, said one minister.

The French prime minister, 74, “is pretty angry with the Socialist Party”, said the  minister on condition of anonymity.

“No more leniency towards Francois Bayrou,” PS leader Olivier Faure had said on Sunday. “We have been betrayed.”

“Censuring the government today would not benefit the French people,” Le Pen told reporters earlier Tuesday.

On the other hand, she added, the party will pay particular attention to the budget proposed by Bayrou’s government.

The far-right party has not ruled out using its leverage in parliament to vote out Bayrou, as it did with his predecessor Michel Barnier, over the 2026 budget in the autumn.

Putting together the 2026 budget will be “a nightmare” given the extent of France’s financial difficulties, government spokesperson Sophie Primas said in  March.

Bayrou was named prime minister by President Emmanuel Macron in December with a mission to bring stability following months of chaos in the wake of last summer’s legislative elections.

Were Bayrou to be ejected by parliament in a vote of no-confidence, it would leave Macron seeking his seventh prime minister and cast a heavy shadow over the remaining two years of his presidential mandate.

AFP