First obstacle overcome by François Bayrou: the motion of censure tabled by the rebels, the communists and the ecologists was not adopted, Thursday January 16, 2025. Out of 575 deputies (two vacant seats), 131 voted for it, much less that the absolute majority necessary to overthrow the government (288).
If the National Rally had indicated in advance that it would not vote for it, reserving itself for the budgetary discussion, it was at the last moment that the Socialist Party finally decided not to add its votes.
Open opposition to compromise
François Bayrou (Modem) therefore won his bet: not only not to be overthrown by the first attempt at censorship, but above all not to depend on the National Rally, unlike Michel Barnier (LR). The only solution to obtain it was non-censorship of the PS.
It was only after numerous discussions and internal meetings, both within the group at the National Assembly and at the party’s national office, that the PS – as well as several ecologists individually – chose not to vote on the motion to censorship filed by the rest of the left.
Olivier Faure, first secretary of the PS, tried to maintain a balanced line. On the one hand, he claimed from the platform the“openness to compromise”. On the other hand, he explained that it was not a question of support without participation or a “non-censorship agreement”, as once mentioned. “We are in opposition and we will stay therehe insisted. However, we do not place our trust in you. (…) A vote of censure is possible at any time. »
The terms of the compromise
Olivier Faure gave the example of the fate of the 2023 pension reform, an issue around which the talks were focused. François Bayrou agreed to reopen the debate, including on the legal retirement age, by bringing together the social partners. It is true that the president of the MoDem was himself initially in favor of a retirement by points (like the CFTC and the CFDT), negotiated by the social partners and adopted by referendum.
The PS, for its part, agreed to move from repeal to suspension, then to renegotiation, on the condition that this begins on Friday January 17. “We will give every chance to negotiation, but if we have the feeling that the debate is blocked and does not allow us to go through with the alternatives, we will table a motion of censure”warned Olivier Faure. Another expectation: that the debate returns to Parliament, whether or not there is agreement between social partners.
The first secretary of the PS also listed all the “concessions extracted” in government. Until the last moment, since after having been vague in his general policy declaration, Tuesday January 14, François Bayrou wrote to the presidents of the socialist groups of the National Assembly and the Senate. Objective: to tick the boxes expected by the PS, in particular the confirmation of measures intended to tax higher incomes or assets more; abandoning the elimination of 4,000 teaching positions (disconnected from the creation of 2,000 positions supporting students with disabilities); the abandonment of the addition of two waiting days in the public service.
The union of the left undermined
Unsurprisingly, the PS’s decision not to censor François Bayrou’s government angered the rest of the left. Manuel Bompard, national coordinator of La France insoumise, accused the socialists of serving as “crutch for continuity” of Macronist policy. Heckled by LFI deputies, Olivier Faure endorsed “honor” to be “a left which proposes, which advances, which makes the government give in”whose “vocation is to wrest every possible victory day after day”. With this speech a few months before the next PS congress, the first secretary drives a wedge into the ranks of his internal opponents who accuse him of being subservient to LFI.
It remains to be seen what this non-censorship announces as lasting or not. On the one hand, with regard to the union of the left, now under attack. However, the next elections, the municipal elections in March 2026, are less conducive to a national agreement with LFI than the legislative elections.
On the other hand, for the future of François Bayrou’s government, while budgetary discussions are only just resuming.