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Marine Le Pen's National Rally will not bring down France's government, at least for now.
Officials confirmed on Wednesday that France's far-right party would not support a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister François Bayrou's minority government, which is expected to be voted on in the coming days.
However, the National Rally lawmakers stressed that the incumbent centre's prime minister's days were numbered.
“The time for criticism will come in the fall, during budget season,” said the vice president of the National Rally, Sébastien Chenu, in an interview.
France's Socialist Party announced Tuesday it will seek to oust Bayrou after talks on pension reform collapsed earlier this week. The center-left party did not vote against the government during four months of negotiations between unions and industry representatives on how to improve the unpopular 2023 law that raised the minimum retirement age for most workers.
The Socialists demanded that the pension debate be reopened in parliament after talks failed, which Bayrou refused.
Other left-wing groups announced they would join efforts to overthrow the government, but votes from the far right are also needed to pass it.
"If we criticize François Bayrou in the coming days, the [2023] pension reform will remain in force," Chenu explained.
He said the National Rally will try to exploit its position to extract concessions from Bayrou on France's energy or migration policy when parliament debates next year's budget this fall.
The National Rally chose a similar approach to Bayrou's predecessor, Michel Barnier, securing a series of political victories during budget negotiations, although it ultimately decided to disband his government over planned tax increases.
Without the tacit support of the socialists, Bayrou's survival now depends largely on the National Rally's future moves.
Responding to Chenu's comment, government spokeswoman Sophie Primas said that proposals "from every political group" would be taken into consideration when drafting the budget.
The government is expected to present its first proposals next month and is seeking to find 40 billion euros in savings to curb a deficit projected to reach 5.6 percent of gross domestic product this year.
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