Paris [France], January 15: France's centrist government has survived two no-confidence votes.
Only 256 and 142 of the 577 members of the French National Assembly withdrew their confidence in the minority government in votes held on Wednesday. Marine Le Pen's far-right nationalists and the left-wing party La France Insoumise (LFI) had each requested a vote against Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu's government over dissatisfaction with the Mercosur trade agreement.
In doing so, they also strongly criticized President Emmanuel Macron, although his office was not at stake in the vote. The European Union's planned free trade agreement with four South American Mercosur countries - Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay - had been under negotiation since 1999.
According to the European Commission, the new free trade area, with more than 700 million inhabitants, would be the largest of its kind in the world. At a meeting of representatives from the 27 EU countries last week voted in favour of concluding the deal.
Source: Qatar Tribune
