(Bloomberg) — France’s Socialist Party is willing to compromise on the budget, opening a narrow path for Prime Minister Francois Bayrou’s new government to avoid collapse in its efforts to repair creaking public finances.
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Ministers are negotiating with different political groups this week to urgently piece together a 2025 budget after the previous administration and its plans were toppled in a no-confidence vote in December.
“We remain open to compromise because France needs a budget,” Socialist party leader Olivier Faure said on France Inter on Tuesday. “France needs to be governed and chaos would create an unfavorable situation for the poorest.”
The French Socialist party is part of a broader left-wing coalition that voted to oust Prime Minister Michel Barnier from power following a budget dispute.
Bayrou replaced Barnier, becoming France’s fourth premier in a year.
If Socialist lawmakers abstain from future censure ballots, it would likely be enough for Bayrou’s government and the budget to survive.
The more conciliatory approach from the left is a step toward bypassing deep divisions in the National Assembly that have tipped France into a budget crisis in which the country is now reliant on emergency legislation to avoid a shutdown.
Barnier’s government was evicted when Marine Le Pen’s far-right lawmakers and leftists from the New Popular Front coalition joined forces to pass a censure motion.
The former premier’s failed playbook involved offering concessions to Le Pen in a bid to get her to abstain. Bayrou has turned instead to the moderate elements of the NPF, including Socialists, Greens and Communists. While they would still not vote in favor of a budget, their abstention from no-confidence ballots could be enough to allow the adoption of finance bills.
Still, Faure has said his party would censure the government unless it offers “remarkable concessions” compared to Barnier’s plans. In a bid to shore up support, Finance Minister Eric Lombard on Monday set out a slower pace of deficit reduction, but gave few details on how taxation and expenditure would be different.
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