French lawmakers reject 2 no-confidence motions against government

By Nur Asena Erturk

Lawmakers in France’s lower chamber of parliament on Monday rejected two no-confidence motions against the government.

Last week, left-wing and right-wing opposition lawmakers submitted two different motions against Prime Minister Gabriel Attal's government for altering the country's annual budget without consulting members of the National Assembly.

Both motions criticized the government for issuing decrees cutting the February budget without going through parliament.

Opposition parties also slammed the government for an "unprecedented austerity," "intolerable on the social level and ineffective on the budgetary level." Left-wing lawmakers especially took issue with the government's "overestimated growth" and "underestimated deficit" forecasts.

The left-wing motion got 222 votes in favor, falling short of the 289 required to dissolve the government. The right-wing motion, for its part, only got 89 votes of support.

Last week, international credit rating agency Standard and Poor's downgraded France's credit score from AA to AA- for the first time since 2013, due to the deterioration of its budgetary position.

Opposition parties in the French parliament seek to intensify pressure on the government ahead of European Parliament elections slated for June 6-9.