Description: Socialist party leader, Olivier Faure, has criticized the reappointed French Prime Minister, Sebastien Lecornu, for failing to address the demands of his party in order for the country’s government to remain active. Faure stated that outside of the pension reform changes, the Socialist party has demanded increased tax on wealthy citizens, an initiative which hasn’t been addressed or discussed by Lecornu. Faure gave Lecornu discussions deadline by Monday, 27 Oct to address this concession otherwise he threatened that the Socialist party would join the far – right and far – left parties in their motion for a renewed no confidence vote.
Impact: France is once again staring down at an immediate political crisis with the Socialist party threatening to join a larger initiative to topple the Prime Minister. The Socialists are enjoying a favorable political climate currently and are in a position to be the kingmakers in France’s new government, while their push to reintroduce the billionaire’s tax initiative is part of their broader political charter. The billionaire’s tax is a much heavily disputed reform among the frail governing coalition than the scrapped pension reform, which was also publicly endorsed by its initiator, France’ President, Emmanuel Macron. Lecornu is again in a precarious position to appease the Socialist, which are prevalent in the minority government, in order to avoid another no confidence vote. Immediate return towards large – scale political crisis is not expected, however, if the process protracts and negotiations continue to stall, the Socialists are expected to join the National Rally and France Unbowed in toppling the government.