Attacked by the National Rally (RN), but also by La Francia Insumisa (LFI), for his refusal to vote in favor of the censure of the Lecornu II government, the first secretary of the Socialist Party (PS), Olivier Faure, defended himself on BFMTV-RMC this Wednesday, October 15.
“Have they bought us? Not at all. I will fight from now on step by step and we will see who on the right or the left gets satisfaction.” [sur le budget]”, says.
“It is always easier to say ‘I am completely free of any kind of reproach’, ‘I am not committed’, etc. However, politics is also a question of responsibilities (…), insists Olivier Faure. In a country that is going badly, we need a budget and responsible people.”
A few hours after Sébastien Lecornu’s general policy statement, on Tuesday afternoon, Olivier Faure indicated on the TF1 set that the PS would not vote in favor of censure, inviting socialist deputies to “respect” this collective decision. “Provoking a dissolution does not change people’s lives,” he said.
After the two motions of censure presented by RN and LFI, the entire future of Sébastien Lecornu’s government seems to be in the hands of the PS. To bind the socialists to his budget, the Prime Minister had no choice but to make concessions.
“I take the risk”
Among them, the suspension of the 2023 pension reform, “until the presidential elections”, a demand from the PS not to press the censure button. Just before starting his general policy speech on Tuesday, Sébastien Lecornu had warned Olivier Faure of his decision.
“He told me ‘I’m taking a risk’,” confesses the first secretary of the PS to BFMTV/RMC.
“Because he is taking a political risk, I admit it. I applauded when I heard all the phrases that allowed us to understand that it was a suspension of the legal age but also of the trimesters, so that there would be no illusions about the Prime Minister’s commitment”, continues Olivier Faure.
A left coalition for 2026
If, on the other hand, the communists and the ecologists agreed to vote in favor of censure, Olivier Faure believes that a coalition between the PS and these two left-wing political forces for the presidential elections is still possible.
“We already made different decisions last year and that did not prevent socialists, environmentalists and communists from coming together. And I really hope that we continue working together because there may be differences of appreciation at a given moment, that does not mean that we disagree,” he says.
On the occasion of the vote on the motion of censure this Thursday, the survival of Sébastien Lecornu’s government will be decided by a few votes. If each deputy follows the directives of his party, 265 parliamentarians would have to vote in his favor, that is, 46% of the seats in the chamber.
Only 24 votes would be needed to bring about the fall of Lecornu II’s government.
Source: BFM TV
