New French government under PM Barnier survives no-confidence vote

France’s two-week-old government led by Prime Minister Michel Barnier survived a no-confidence vote on Tuesday.

A total of 197 MPs voted in favour of this no-confidence motion, short of the 289 votes needed to achieve an absolute majority to topple the government.

The no-confidence motion was deposited by a group of 192 lawmakers of the left-wing New Popular Front (NFP) coalition composed of the hard-left France Unbowed (LFI), Socialists, Greens and Communists.

Despite securing the most seats in the National Assembly in France’s snap legislative elections held this summer, the left was not given a chance by French President Emmanuel Macron to form a minority government.

Although far from obtaining an absolute majority, the NFP believed the Prime minister should have come from their ranks.

Clémence Guetté, an MP from the hard-left LFI party claimed Michel Barnier was governing “by force”, recalling that the Prime Minister’s party, Les Républicains (LR), had come fourth in the legislative elections “with just 6% of the vote.”

Prime Minister Michel Barnier criticised the left for refusing to give him a chance and claimed that his “relative majority” was the “least relative” possible, given the fragmentation of political forces.

“You had informed me that even before I opened my mouth, before I formed the government, before I presented a general policy plan, that you were going to vote against me,” he lamented.

The far-right National Rally (RN), which has 125 MPs, has said it would abstain “for now” from voting against Barnier’s government.

Guillaume Bigot, a far-right MP, assured that his “party is burning to vote for the no-confidence censure”, that it “will have no qualms about voting” against Barnier but that they will not do it today.

The far-right MP claimed that Michel Barnier’s general policy plan contained “nothing very convincing, but nothing very shocking either,” according to Mr Bigot.

But with the mounting political tensions, Michel Barnier will probably face multiple no-confidence in the coming months.