The French Socialists will not support Bayrou’s no-confidence vote

The center-left Socialist party in France will not support a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Francois Bayrou on Thursday, according to party insiders, allowing his fragile minority government to survive.

The far-right National Rally (RN), led by Marine Le Pen, has indicated that it will not support the move, thus Bayrou was already anticipated to survive Thursday evening’s no-confidence vote following a debate that started in the afternoon.

However, doubts had clouded the Socialists’ stance, and Bayrou has appealed to them in order to prevent being dependent on the RN. One way he has done this is by proposing to renegotiate a 2023 pension reform that the left finds objectionable.

Bayrou will be dependent on the RN’s grace once more if the Socialists support the motion of no-confidence, which could withdraw its support at any time.

If they oppose the legislation, he will have more time to enact the budget law for 2025, which ultimately brought down Michel Barnier, his predecessor.

The decision to not support a no-confidence vote was made at a party meeting, according to two Socialist Party sources who spoke to Reuters.

Reuters was informed by one of the sources that “the Socialist Party will not vote no-confidence today.”

Markets have been shaken by France’s political unrest, which saw four prime ministers in a single year last year.

Bayrou’s promise to resume pension reform negotiations was insufficient, according to socialist leader Olivier Faure, who had previously stated that the party would support the no-confidence vote unless their demands were clearly addressed.

Earlier on Thursday, the speaker of France’s lower house of parliament issued a warning, saying that if a resolution of no-confidence against the government were to pass, there would be serious consequences because it would affect the budget, among other things.

“The budget is our top priority,” Yael Braun-Pivet, the head of parliament, said TF1 TV.

“Today, we must all come together and get over our differences, to get the country moving forward and to be able to respond to matters of great importance.”

According to Braun-Pivet, if the motion of no confidence were approved, France would not be able to enact specific laws or legislation pertaining to farming in Mayotte, the French overseas territory that was hit by a cyclone last month.