French government survives no-confidence vote over heatwave handling

PARIS, July 6 – The French government survived a vote of no-confidence in parliament on Monday over its handling of a severe heatwave in late June.

• Backers of the motion said the government failed to do enough to blunt the effects of last month’s heatwave in a country where 2,025 excess deaths have been recorded so far. French health authorities warned the number would likely rise.

• The motion, filed by France’s Green Party, which needed 289 votes to pass, was backed by only 132 members of parliament.

• “No one is fooled. This motion will not protect an isolated elderly person. It will not cool down a hospital room. It will not modernise a water supply network. On the contrary, it will add a political crisis to climate, healthcare and international crises that the government already must deal with,” French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu told lawmakers ahead of the vote.

• The vote took place as firefighters battled a wildfire in southwestern France that has forced the evacuation of 10,000 people.

• Early summer heatwaves in France and across western Europe have made the scorched land particularly vulnerable to wildfires this year, and temperatures are set to rise again. REUTERS