PARIS — Marine Le Pen’s National Rally won’t bring down France’s government — for now.
Party officials confirmed Wednesday that French far-right party would not back a motion of no-confidence against Prime Minister François Bayrou’s minority government, which is expected to be voted on in the coming days. However, National Rally lawmakers stressed that the centrist prime minister’s days in office were numbered.
“The time for censure will come in the fall, during budget season,” National Rally Vice-President Sébastien Chenu said in an interview with France Inter. “His time will come.”
The French Socialist Party announced Tuesday that it would seek to bring down Bayrou after talks over pension reform collapsed earlier this week. The center-left party refrained from voting against the government during four months of negotiations between trade unions and industry representatives over how to improve the unpopular 2023 law which raised the minimum retirement age for most workers. The Socialists requested that the pensions debate be reopened in parliament after the talks fell apart, which Bayrou refused.
Other left-wing groups announced that they would join the effort to topple the government, but to pass it also needs votes from the far right.
“If we censure François Bayrou in the coming days, the [2023] pensions reform will stay in place,” Chenu explained.
He said that the National Rally would instead try to leverage its position to extract concessions from Bayrou on France’s energy or migration policy when parliament debates next year’s budget this fall.
The National Rally opted for a similar approach with Bayrou’s predecessor, Michel Barnier, securing a series of policy wins during budget negotiations, though it still decided to eventually pull the plug on his government over planned tax hikes.
Without the tacit support of the Socialists, Bayrou’s survival now hinges in large part on the National Rally’s next moves.
Responding to Chenu’s comment, government spokesperson Sophie Primas said proposals “from every political group” would be taken into consideration when the budget is drafted. The government is expected to put forward its first proposals next month and is looking to find €40 billion in savings to rein in a deficit projected to hit 5.6 percent of gross domestic product this year.
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