French Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne survived a no-confidence vote in Parliament on Monday, brought about by the hard-left opposition. The vote came as France’s President Emmanuel Macron found himself under pressure to explain allegations of his past support for Uber while he was economy minister.
It was a convincing win for Borne, who saw the motion from the hard-left France Unbowed (LFI) party receive just 146 of the National Assembly’s 577 MPs after almost three hours of debating.
The vote was presented in parliament by MP Mathilde Panot from the far-left France Unbowed. She denounced the government, saying they were leading a “programme of social and ecological malfeasance”.
Borne is head of a minority government, which makes her vulnerable to no-confidence botes, but other opposition parties did not back the initiative to bring her down.
Bourne was named by Macron in May – just a month before parliamentary elections in which the ruling centrist party lost its majority.
Bourne used the debate to accuse the LFI of diverting parliamentary time away from important topics.
“Ladies and gentlemen, today we could be working for the good of the French people,” Borne told parliament ahead of the vote.
“Instead, we are debating a no-confidence vote that is based on my alleged intentions, and that stands in the way of parliament’s work and therefore of the wish of the French people,” she said.
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On Monday, Ariane Bogain from Northumbria University explained that the no-confidence vote was unlikely to pass since none of the opposition parties outside the left-wing NUPES alliance joined the motion.
“This is a tactical vote of no confidence. It’s NUPES wanting to present itself as the only real opposition to Macron, they’re going to say that all the other opposition parties are complicit with Macron, they’re going to say Macron is supported by the far-right,” explained Bogain. “So today is performative and I expect to have more of this kind of performance tactics – not necessarily another vote of no confidence, but lots of inquests, commissions being set up for example, everything to challenge Macron and slow down his majority.”
Monday’s vote comes as President Macron faces pressure to explain allegations of his past support for taxi app Uber while he was economy minister from 1024-2016.
Investigations by a consortium of media including France’s Le Monde newspaper claimed Macron held several undeclared meetings with Uber executives while during his term as economy minister.
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The reports say a “secret deal” entailed Macron promising to help Uber work around legislation introduced in 2014, which south to regulate the new app-based tax hailing services.
Le Monde described Macron as “more than a supporter, almost a partner” for Uber over the course of 17 meetings held by him or his staff with company executives at a time when the firm faced multiple legal enquiries.
Corbière from the France Unbowed party has called for a parliamentary enquiry into the leaks. “It’s very serious the idea that with this secret pact Mr Macron de-regulated the regulation of the taxi industry,” he told Public Senat television. “What lessons should be drawn?
The Uber leaks feed into the narratives on both sides of French political divide, explained FRANCE 24’s French politics editor Angela Diffley. “Emmanuel Macron and his centre-right party are saying his job as an economy minister included making contacts with all sorts of companies. It’s no secret at all that Emmanuel Macron favoured shaking up the French economy, opening it up to start-ups,” said Diffley. “What is a little unattractive is the fact that some of his contacts with people at Uber were not marked in his diary. But that is not illegal. There’s nothing illegal here, it’s very much about each side spinning their story.”
France’s new prime minister survived a vote of no confidence in parliament on Monday brought by an alliance of left-wing lawmakers shortly after the June elections.
There were just 146 MPs that voted in favour of the motion of no-confidence, which in order to pass would have needed 289 votes.
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The France Unbowed (LFI) party had brought in the motion against Borne, who heads a minority government, but she appeared out of danger when other opposition parties ruled out backing the initiative even before the vote.
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