French Prime Minister François Bayrou survived a no-confidence vote in Parliament on Wednesday, February 5, winning some breathing space after less than two months in office but by no means ensuring long-term survival. With 128 "yes" votes the motion, brought by the left fell short by a large margin of the 289 votes needed to topple the government, which still needs approval from the upper-house Sénat for the budget to become law.
Bayrou, a veteran centrist named by President Emmanuel Macron in December to end months of political crisis, used the controversial Article 49.3 of the Constitution on Monday to ram his cost-cutting budget through parliament without a vote. But the use of this mechanism allowed the opposition to put forward a no-confidence motion and the bid to topple the government was duly proposed by the hard-left La France Insoumise (LFI), backed by the Communists and the Greens.
As expected, the Socialists and the far-right Rassemblement National (RN) did not support it. A second motion of no confidence, also tabled by LFI was being examined in the wake of the vote.
The survival of Bayrou's government will be a relief for Macron who has faced calls to resign since the middle of last year but insisted he will stay on until the end of his term, due to end in 2027. Many analysts and even allies are still baffled by the president's decision to call snap parliamentary elections last summer which gave the far right its biggest ever foothold in a divided Parliament.
The cost-cutting and tax-hiking budget has proved controversial in some quarters, with France's richest man the luxury goods mogul Bernard Arnault denouncing a planned special corporate tax.
"We need stability," Macron said on Tuesday, while adding that "we should not go backwards."