(Bloomberg) -- French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou forced the adoption of a 2025 budget bill by bypassing the lower house of parliament on Monday, using a constitutional provision that will likely trigger a no-confidence vote.
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The far-left France Unbowed has already said it will file the no-confidence motion, that will likely come to a vote Wednesday. The Socialist leadership said it won’t support the motion, which — if party members follow the guidance — will keep the government from collapsing.
Marine Le Pen’s anti-immigrant National Rally has yet to give a clear indication of how it will vote. A party spokesman said it would announce its plan on Wednesday afternoon.
French politics has been in turmoil since French President Emmanuel Macron called snap elections last summer that fractured the National Assembly into three opposing blocs. The National Rally became the single largest party in the lower house, thrusting Le Pen into a position of unprecedented influence.
Bayrou called on members of parliament not to overthrow his government and accept the budget bill he pushed through. “If you decide, since it’s in your hands,” Bayrou said, “within 10 days France will have its budget, which will send a signal of responsibility and stability to those most concerned, those who are rightly worried, our fellow citizens.”
French debt outperformed that of Germany on Monday amid a broad rally in European bonds. The gap between the two nations’ 10-year yields, a common measure of risk, fell two basis points to 73 basis points, its lowest closing level since October.
It traded above 90 basis points late last year when the previous government collapsed after failing to get its budget through parliament. Investors were already buying French bonds last month, betting Bayrou’s less ambitious fiscal consolidation plans would find enough support.
Bayrou also pushed through a bill on the 2025 social security budget using the same constitutional measure to avoid a vote.
The government of Bayrou’s predecessor, Michel Barnier, was toppled in December when the National Rally joined forces with the leftist New Popular Front — which includes both the Socialists and France Unbowed — to back a no-confidence motion. That vote was triggered under similar circumstances in an attempt to get a budget adopted.