French opposition parties expected to file votes of no-confidence

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00:00Well, indeed, what is expected to happen today is that Sébastien Lecornu, the Prime Minister,

00:04is going to indeed use this 49.3 article of the Constitution, which allows him to push this budget through the Parliament.

00:12Now, of course, we are expecting that in the wake of that announcement,

00:17both the National Rally Party and the extreme-left France and Béad Party are going to indeed file for votes of no confidence.

00:24And this should happen in the coming days three times.

00:28That, of course, is except if one of these votes of confidence actually gets a majority and the government is toppled.

00:35So, indeed, today we're expecting this article to be used.

00:39We're expecting the opposition parties to indeed ask for a vote of no confidence,

00:44and that vote of no confidence should take place on Friday.

00:47And then next week there should be, because this today, the idea is the Prime Minister is going to push through the part of the budget,

00:55which is the income, then next week it will be spending,

01:01and then current of the end of next week it should be the actual budget itself as a complete package,

01:09and that could trigger two more votes of no confidence.

01:12So what we're facing here are three triggerings of the 49.3 article

01:16and six votes of no confidence the government is going to have to face.

01:21So, you know, the fact that he's being forced to use this Article 49.3,

01:25is that, you know, a statement that his strategy has failed?

01:30Well, yes and no, because indeed the Prime Minister had said when he took office that he would not use the Article 49.3,

01:41that he would try and build compromise and deals inside this very fractured National Assembly.

01:47Now, you could say that it has been a failure in a sense.

01:49I mean, he himself recognizes that he's not very happy to be using this 49.3 article,

01:55since he had himself said he would not, but he is indeed cornered, he has no choice.

02:00If France is to have a budget, it's the only option.

02:03But you could also say he has, to some extent, actually managed to broker some kind of deal,

02:09because if indeed he is using it, it is because he expects that the central bloc formed of the Socialist Party,

02:16you know, the presidential majority, and the moderate-right party will,

02:23the Republican Party, the Republican Party, will indeed vote in favor of the government and not censor it.

02:29And in order to achieve that, he has managed to build some measure of compromise.

02:35Of course, the compromise was not wide enough for these three blocs to vote together

02:39and indeed pass this budget, but still there have been concessions made to the left,

02:46concessions made to the right, in a sufficient measure that observers are saying

02:51that this government could survive these six votes of no confidence.

02:56Well, we'll have to see if that actually holds,

02:58because indeed you could have a group of MPs who decide to vote against the government,

03:02in which case the government would fall.

03:05But you've got to bear in mind the fact that none of these central bloc parties here in France

03:10could actually win any seats if indeed there is a new parliamentary vote here in France,

03:21and that indeed is what they want to avoid.

03:25So what we are seeing here is a bit of a balancing act

03:27between all these three central bloc parties who want to remain as the parliament is for right now,

03:34but also want to show that they do not completely agree with the government.

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