PARIS: French Prime Minister Michel Barnier passed the first test of his new government on Tuesday, as a leftist no-confidence motion failed to garner enough votes to bring down his center-right administration.

President Emmanuel Macron tapped Barnier for the job of prime minister last month after a snap election led to a fractious hung parliament. Barnier’s government is weak, propped up by the far right and despised by leftist lawmakers who filed the no-confidence motion on Friday.

The no-confidence motion was always a longshot, as it needed the backing of the far-right National Rally (RN) party to get over the line — a move RN lawmakers had signalled they were unwilling to take.

On Tuesday, 197 lawmakers voted in favour of the motion — well short of the 289 votes that were needed. “The motion has not been adopted,” said Yael Braun-Pivet, speaker and president of the parliament.

All eyes will now turn to Barnier’s first budget proposal, due to be unveiled on Thursday and which is likely to include bruising tax hikes and spending cuts totalling some 60 billion euros ($65.9 billion) to bring down an ever-widening deficit.

Getting the budget bill approved will be the next stern test of Barnier’s nascent term.

After Barnier set out his government’s policy blueprint last week, the RN’s Marine Le Pen said she wanted “to give a chance” to the prime minister. But she set out red lines, including that any tax increases be offset by increased spending power for the lower and middle classes.

Published in Dawn, October 9th, 2024