French Prime Minister Bayrou survives 2 no-confidence votes

France's Prime Minister Francois Bayrou survived a challenge to his authority after two votes of confidence in his minority government were defeated in the country's parliament, the National Assembly, on Wednesday.

In December Bayrou was appointed by President Emmanuel Macron to become the fourth different person to hold the post last year, as France continues to try to find a way out of the political deadlock caused by elections last summer that left the country with a hung parliament.

Far-left members, who have the largest representation in the assembly but not an overall majority, tabled two no-confidence motions against the centrist prime minister after he resorted to using special constitutional powers to force through budgetary legislation.

However, members of the far-right National Rally party, or RN, who make up the third-largest bloc in the parliament, refused to back the move.

With 289 votes needed for the motion to succeed, it could only gain 128 supporters on the first vote, and 122 on the second.

However, it may just be a temporary reprieve for Bayrou, as politicians on both sides said they had only voted to avoid further turmoil rather than out of genuine approval. RN leader Jordan Bardella said "we need a budget" and "we need to avoid uncertainty because many of our fellow citizens … are extremely worried about possible long-term instability".

Another RN deputy, Yoann Gillet, called Bayrou's spending plans a "racket organized on the backs of those who work and produce in our country" but despite this, he said that with insufficient backing elsewhere, it was not worth his party's time to support the motion.

On the left, Olivier Faure, leader of the Socialist Party, said voting to bring down the government would only result in "a prime minister further to the right".

Even Bayrou himself has admitted the budget is only a stop-gap measure to try to bring France's deficit under control, saying before the parliamentary vote that "this budget is not perfect. It is an emergency step as our country cannot live without a budget," and warning of what he called "advancing tsunamis" facing the country, caused by world events.

Bayrou could still encounter fresh challenges to his authority sooner rather than later, with risk analysis company Eurasia Group telling the France 24 news website that "passive support" from the Socialists and RN would end once the budget began to take effect, and predicting that there was a 70 percent chance the government could fall "in the next few months".