PARIS — French Prime Minister François Bayrou will face a no-confidence vote following the apparent collapse of pension reform talks, escalating a political crisis that could leave France without a government for the second time since December.
The French Socialist Party said Tuesday that it would censure Bayrou after the prime minister’s retirement “conclave,” which aimed to improve the deeply unpopular 2023 law that raised the minimum retirement age, ended Monday with negotiators failing to reach an agreement.
The center-left party had until now abstained from previous efforts to bring down Bayrou’s government, instead waiting to see how the conclave played out.
Once the conclave ended without a deal, the Socialists demanded that lawmakers be allowed to propose changes to the reform, including bringing the retirement age back down. But Bayrou refused, instead personally intervening in a last-ditch effort to get conclave participants to reach an agreement.
Without even tacit support from the Socialists, Bayrou’s government is inching dangerously close to the point of collapse.
A vote on the motion is expected within 48 hours. To succeed it would require backing from Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally and its allies, in addition to the left.
Jean-Luc Mélenchon of France Unbowed, the largest of the four left-wing groups in the French legislature, signaled that his party will support the motion. The National Rally had previously signaled it would not take down Bayrou’s government over pensions but could support a no-confidence motion soon on other issues such as energy policy.
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