The leader of France’s far-right National Rally party announced on Tuesday that he does not support a no-confidence motion against the government, making it more likely that the prime minister will stay in power and the 2025 budget will be approved.
A no-confidence vote is set for Wednesday in the National Assembly and needs at least 289 votes to pass. Left-wing parties, including France Unbowed, Communists, and Greens, are expected to back the motion, but they lack the numbers to succeed on their own in toppling the centrist government.
Jordan Bardella, head of the National Rally, the largest party in the National Assembly, stated that given the current situation, France would not benefit from another period of instability.
The Socialist party also declared that it would not support the motion, emphasizing the importance of passing a budget for France.
On Monday, Prime Minister François Bayrou invoked special constitutional powers to approve the 2025 budget without requiring a parliamentary vote.
According to France’s Constitution, if the no-confidence motion is rejected, the budget will automatically be considered approved.
In December, a similar no-confidence motion related to budget issues led to the resignation of Prime Minister Michel Barnier, who had been in office for just three months.
This time, Bayrou sought greater stability for his minority government by engaging in intense negotiations with the Socialists to reach a non-aggression agreement.
In the discussions, Bayrou agreed to allocate more funds for public hospitals and pledged not to cut 4,000 jobs in national education. He also indicated last month that he was open to revisiting a controversial proposal to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64.
The revised budget plans aim to keep France’s deficit at 5.4% of its GDP this year.
French politics have been unstable since President Emmanuel Macron called for snap elections last year, which resulted in no party securing a majority in parliament.