Bayrou’s minority government does not have enough support to pass the budget next week, so it will likely need to use a constitutional back door that allows the government to adopt legislation without a vote but, in return, exposes it to a no-confidence vote.
Former Prime Minister Michel Barnier in December attempted to use that measure to pass his spending plans, but lawmakers ousted him, leaving France without a proper budget entering the new year.
Whereas Barnier tried to work with the far right, Bayrou is hoping the Socialists can be a potential opposition partner to help him pass his less ambitious spending plans. However, the two sides have so far been unable to strike an agreement, and controversial comments the centrist prime minister made this week on immigration have jeopardized the potential partnership.
The Socialist senators and MPs who sat on the joint committee voted against the bill, meaning all eyes will be on them when Monday’s chamber vote arrives. While Bayrou does not need the party to vote for the bill, he will likely need its lawmakers to abstain from voting for a no-confidence measure to survive.
“That is not our budget. We are in the opposition,” said the Socialists’ leader in the National Assembly, Boris Vallaud.
But in a sign that potentially bodes well for Bayrou, Socialist party leaders acknowledged that they were able to obtain several concessions to preserve social spending.
“Would we have wanted more? Of course, of course we would have wanted more. But those who gamble on having less or having everything always take the risk of having less,” Vallaud said.
