The French opposition plans to submit a vote of no confidence in President Macron’s government. Both the left and the right opposition are doing this, but together they should not have a majority.

The reason is today’s decision by the government to shut down parliament. Prime Minister Borne announced that next year’s budget would be accepted without a vote. The constitution allows for this in exceptional cases.

According to the prime minister, the opposition has tabled thousands of amendments that would take too long in the budget process. In addition, the opposition had already announced that they would vote against it in any case. According to Borne, cooperation was therefore impossible. “We have been loyal and have considered all proposals,” she said. “We tried in vain to make it through compromise and dialogue.”

hard road

The radical left-wing party LFI immediately announced that it would submit a motion of no confidence. “The government chooses the hard way. President Macron is becoming authoritarian,” said LFI faction leader Mathilde Panot.

“We will come tomorrow with our own vote of no confidence,” said Jean Philippe Tanguy of Marine Le Pen’s RN party MP.

This creates a strange scenario in Parliament. The radical left LFI has already said that it will not vote for the radical right RN’s motion, and RN said the same about the LFI’s motion.

Other opposition parties are unlikely to vote for motions

There is another major opposition party, the right-wing Les Républicains. But they probably don’t want to vote for either motion. If the government is sent home, new elections are likely and Les Républicains fear losing much.

President Macron’s government, which does not have a majority in parliament, will survive the no-confidence motions because the opposition parties are divided.

But the government can be blamed for taking Parliament out of the game. Many French people see it as if Macron doesn’t care about democratic customs.

The left-wing opposition points out that in recent weeks they have also used injunctions to get striking oil refinery workers back to work. Unions say this violates the right to strike, but the judge ruled last week that the orders were lawful.