Reuters. French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou survived an initial no-confidence vote in parliament, called for by the hard-left, after the far-right National Rally (RN) and centre-left Socialists did not back the motion.
On Wednesday (February 5), 128 lawmakers voted in favour of the first motion, well short of the 289 votes that were needed. A second motion is set to be up for a vote later on Wednesday night, but it is also expected not to pass.
Far-left lawmakers have introduced two no-confidence motions against the prime minister after he invoked special constitutional powers to force through the 2025 budget.
The tool, known as Article 49.3, allows the minority government to pass the legislation without a parliamentary vote.
"We have an imperfect budget... This budget is an emergency step," Bayrou told lawmakers.
French Socialists, who are part of the left-wing New Popular Front (NFP), chose to strike down the motion as a decision of "responsibility" in order to "give France visibility and stability with the budget," party lawmaker Emmanuel Gregoire said.
Yoann Gillet, a lawmaker from the far-right National Rally, said the lack of "coherence" within the NFP, which submitted the motion and includes the Socialists, prevented the censure from passing.
"We have clowns from the NFP alliance who are motioning to censure and other clowns in this same NFP alliance who say they will not vote for it," Gillet said. "Colleagues from the NFP, get yourself some coherence."
