PARIS (Reuters) – France’s New Popular Front, a coalition of left-wing lawmakers, filed a no-confidence motion on Friday against Prime Minister Michel Barnier’s government, but it will only advance in the unlikely event that far-right lawmakers also back the effort.
President Emmanuel Macron tapped Barnier for the job of prime minister last month after a snap election led to a fractious hung parliament. Though the left-wing coalition won the most votes, it fell short of an outright majority and the single party that garnered the largest share of support was the far-right National Rally.
As a result, Barnier, who hails from the centre-right Republican party, leads a fragile government reviled by elements of the left and the right and facing the difficult tasks of getting a state budget approved and bringing down the deficit.
“The existence of this government, in its composition and its direction, is a denial of the result of the most recent legislative elections,” the motion read.
The left-wing lawmakers said Macron should have appointed a prime minister from their ranks and said the budget for the next fiscal year was poised to be “the most austere in the last 25 years”.
National Rally lawmakers have signalled in recent days that they would not support a no-confidence vote so early in the life of the Barnier government. They do not want to be seen as plunging France into deeper turmoil for political gain.
After Barnier set out his government’s policy blueprint earlier this week, the National Rally’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.
Le Pen has also said she wants to see legislation tightening controls on immigration at the start of next year.
Representatives for the National Rally did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
(Reporting by Elizabeth Pineau; additional reporting by Makini Brice; Editing by Gareth Jones)
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