The no-confidence motions aimed to protest the European Union's trade agreement with the MERCOSUR bloc. French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu has survived two no-confidence votes in parliament, clearing the way for the government to focus on yet another budget showdown in the coming days. The no-confidence motions, filed by the far-right National Rally (RN) and hard-left France Unbowed (LFI), aimed to protest the European Union's trade agreement with the South American bloc Mercado Comun del Sur (Southern Common Market, or MERCOSUR).
Good morning and welcome to our rolling coverage of Europe news. France is likely to be the main focus as Sebastien Lecornu, the outgoing prime minister, is due to start a last-ditch effort to rally cross-party support for a cabinet lineup to pull his country out of political deadlock. President Emmanuel Macron tasked Lecornu, 39, with forming a government in early September after parliament toppled his predecessor over an unpopular austerity budget.
I learned a new French word on Monday. Francois Bayrou, like King Louis XV, predicted that his demise would unleash boundless chaos. Bayrou didn't say: Apres moi le deluge, he said that France faces a tohu-bohu - a word of Old Testament origin meaning a formless world incompatible with life. The next few days and week may indeed seem tohubohuesque.
The National Assembly votes to bring down the Bayrou-led government over its plans to cut about $52bn to reduce the country's debt pile. French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou has lost the confidence vote in parliament, hours after warning the country was facing a life-threatening debt crisis, deepening a political crisis and handing President Emmanuel Macron the task of finding a fifth prime minister in less than two years.
Denis's father, a laboratory technician in rural eastern France with terminal cancer, chose to end his life through illegal, clandestine euthanasia in 2008 I was plunged into grief while having to keep the secret about how he died, Denis said. Now he leads the campaign for assisted dying and palliative care, as president of the Association for the Right to Rie with dignity.
