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 as he survived a confidence vote called by the hard left after the centre-left Socialist Party failed to back the proposal.
Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Assembly (RN) party has already signaled that it will not support the proposal.
This means that President Emmanuel Macron’s government lives to fight another day without relying solely on the mercy of the far right. But Bayrou’s administration remains weak and still faces an uphill battle to pass the 2025 budget that ousted his predecessor Michel Barnier.
On Thursday, 131 MPs voted in favor of the proposal – well short of the 288 votes needed.
“The required majority was not achieved, the proposal was not adopted,” said the president of the National Assembly, Yael Braun-Pivet.
Question marks hung over the socialists’ position. Bayrou sought their support to avoid remaining dependent on the RN, including an offer to renegotiate the 2023 pension reform that is unpopular with the left.
“We will not censor you (today),” Socialist Party leader Olivier Faure told Bayrou at the start of a debate in the National Assembly.
Political instability in France, which had four prime ministers last year, rattled markets.
Faure previously said that Bayrou’s promise to reopen negotiations on pension reform was not enough and that his party would support a confidence vote in the absence of a clear answer to their demands.
To win over the Socialists, Bayrou detailed in the letter a series of further concessions ranging from reversing cuts to state medical benefits, raising hospital costs more than previously budgeted and abandoning plans to lay off 4,000 teachers.
Bayrou also agreed to keep concessions already made by his predecessor Barnier, including delaying electricity tax increases and raising all pensions in line with inflation at a cost of 3.6 billion euros ($3.7 billion).
Bayrou also pledged to continue with a series of €21 billion worth of tax increases planned by Barnier, namely for the rich and big companies.
($1 = 0.9705 euros)
