French Socialist government wins confidence vote

The Socialist government of French Prime Minister Manuel Valls has won a confidence vote tied to its package of controversial economic reforms.   

A total of 234 mainly opposition deputies voted on Thursday for the motion of no-confidence which was far short of the number required to bring down the government.

The motion sparked after Valls on Tuesday forced through an unpopular economic legislation put forward without seeking a parliamentary vote.

Despite a Socialist majority in parliament, Valls decided to employ the rarely-used Article 49 of the French Constitution because he feared that his reform package or the “Macron Law” would not be approved.

Valls resorted to the constitutional article as he feared the rebellion from within his own Socialist Party would obstruct the reforms. The reforms package now automatically goes through after the failure of the no-confidence motion.

The reforms will give the struggling French economy “a fresh lease of life,” Valls told MPs at the French National Assembly.

“The French people expect us to act; for us to remove blockages. The main blockage is our too-weak growth. It prevents us from creating jobs, from reducing our mass unemployment that is hurting us so much,” he said.

Despite their anger over the reforms, the left-wing rump of the Socialist Party said they would not go so far as bringing down the government by backing the no-confidence motion.

“No one has for a moment considered voting for this motion of no confidence,” said Christian Paul, one of the chief Socialist rebels.

The Macron Law is a raft of right-wing measures that increase the sell-off of state-owned assets, reduce workers’ rights and increase fees on the population in the recession-wracked country.

The European Union has urged France to reform in order to bring down its rising budget deficit, which is far above European limits.

The reform package has split the Socialist Party. Since it became public, there have also been protests across the country involving perhaps millions of people, as well as numerous labor strikes.

MAK/KA/SS

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