The French government saved its continuity on Monday (25) after overcoming three motions of censure in Parliament – two from the left and one from the right -, but left It is clear that it is in a fragile situation, without an absolute majority in the National Assembly and in the Senate.
The first motion, presented by the left, obtained 239 votes, leaving the 50 of achieving the absolute majority that would have forced the government to resign. The right-wing motion, on the other hand, obtained 90.
The motion was presented after Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne resorted, the previous week, to a constitutional mechanism to approve the budget of 2023.
The third motion, also from the left, was presented due to the government’s decision to force the adoption without a vote of the social security accounts. It only received 150 votes, those of the parties that promoted it.
If the rejection of the three motions was quite predictable, a surprise was due to the conservative leader Marine Le Pen, who announced support for one of the motions presented by the left.
Le Pen confessed that the “critical” situation in the country justifies putting aside ideological differences with the left and said that he is not afraid of threats to dissolve the chambers and call a referendum on the country’s president, Emmanuel Macron, in case any motion of censure against the government passes.
This maneuver left the executive depending on the votes of the 62 congressmen from the moderate conservative party The Republicans, who, according to polls, are the least interested in returning to the polls.
The party’s bench, immersed in a deep process of renewal and in search of a new leader after the failure of its candidate Valérie Pécresse in the April presidential elections, had already announced that it would not support any one of the two motions of censure, despite his differences with the government.
Now, more than ever, Macron must count on these deputies to stay in power, after having lost his absolute majority parliamentary elections in June.
