French Prime Minister Elisabeth Bourne comfortably won a vote of no confidence in her government in the National Assembly after she resorted to passing the budget without a parliamentary vote.

The vote of no confidence, which was held on Friday night, was put forward by the left-wing “NOB” coalition, which is the eighteenth that Bourne has faced, and it came after she resorted to the constitutional mechanism known as Article 49.3, to pass the draft budget law without voting on it in the National Assembly.

The motion of confidence received the approval of 193 deputies out of the 289 votes required for its passage, a result that was largely expected in light of the proposal not receiving support from the center-right in the House of Representatives.

In practice, this means passing the draft budget for the period between 2023 and 2027 and submitting it to the Senate for approval.

The spokesman for the "NOP" coalition, socialist MP Philippe Bran, accused the Borne government and President Emmanuel Macron of "favoring, with the greatest degree of subservience, a minority of well-off Frenchmen" despite a "massive inflationary crisis" in the country.

He pointed out that Macron "is trying to hide Parliament by repeatedly resorting to Clause 49.3," which allows the executive authority to approve draft laws without voting on them before the National Assembly.

The far right supported the left's motion of no confidence in the government, accusing Borne of resorting to "repeated and exploitative use" of this constitutional mechanism.
Macron had previously resorted to Article 49.3 to pass his controversial project to reform the retirement system after widespread protests.