French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou managed to scrape through a no-confidence vote on Tuesday, but his grip on power remains fragile. After just half a year in office, questions about how long he can weather the mounting political pressure are growing louder, leaving his future hanging by a thread.
The Socialist Party (PS) tabled a motion of no confidence against Prime Minister Francois Bayrou’s government following the breakdown of negotiations over pension reforms.
Although the motion garnered strong backing across the left, it fell short of full parliamentary support as Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally (RN) withheld its endorsement.
Bayrou, a seasoned centrist, currently lacks a clear majority in the National Assembly, and the vote highlighted both the precariousness of his hold on power and his loss of the Socialists’ crucial support, which had previously kept his administration afloat.
While Bayrou publicly brushed off the challenge, dismissing it as nothing more than a “joke,” a minister revealed that behind closed doors, he has been seething with frustration.
The French prime minister, 74, “is pretty angry with the Socialist Party”, said the minister on condition of anonymity.
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“No more leniency towards Francois Bayrou,” PS leader Olivier Faure had said on Sunday. “We have been betrayed.”
“Censuring the government today would not benefit the French people,” Le Pen told reporters earlier Tuesday.
She noted, however, that her party intends to scrutinise Bayrou’s proposed budget closely.
The far-right has not ruled out using its parliamentary influence to unseat Bayrou, just as it did with his predecessor, Michel Barnier, during the fraught 2026 budget battle last autumn.
Drafting the 2026 budget will be “a nightmare,” government spokesperson Sophie Primas warned in March, citing the severity of France’s financial troubles.
Bayrou was appointed prime minister by President Emmanuel Macron in December, tasked with restoring stability after months of political turmoil following last summer’s legislative elections.
If Bayrou were to lose a no-confidence vote, it would force Macron to seek his seventh prime minister, plunging his final two years in office into deeper uncertainty and raising fresh questions about the durability of his leadership.