Cost of living a priority, French PM says, urging opposition to help vote reforms

French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said on Wednesday her minority government's top priority would be to confront a cost of living crisis, as she urged the opposition to work with her to avoid policy gridlock. President Emmanuel Macron's centrist alliance lost its absolute majority in legislative elections in June despite his having won a second term in April.

French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said on Wednesday her minority government's top priority would be to confront a cost of living crisis, as she urged the opposition to work with her to avoid policy gridlock.

President Emmanuel Macron's centrist alliance lost its absolute majority in legislative elections in June despite his having won a second term in April. Without pacts with other parties, Borne now faces the prospect of bill-by-bill negotiations in parliament.

"Disorder and instability are not options," Borne said in a keynote policy speech to lawmakers at times drowned by boos from the opposition. "The French are asking us to talk to each other more, to talk to each other better, and to build together," said Borne, a 61-year old career civil servant and politician.

She has opted against a potentially risky confidence vote after her policy speech. Steps to improve the cost of living will include boosting pensions, capping rent increases and prolonging limits on gas and electricity prices, which are set to be included in a bill later this week, she said.

Other key priorities will include putting more police on the streets, deepening EU integration and tackling climate change. The planned nationalisation of debt-laden utility EDF will allow the government to carry out "ambitious and essential projects" for France's energy future, Borne added.

NO-CONFIDENCE VOTE Far-right leader Marine Le Pen told Borne after the speech that she had been right not to seek a confidence vote "because we have no trust in your government".

Government officials said they believed they could have narrowly won a confidence vote but that would have meant counting on the far right abstaining, which would have been politically unpalatable. "We could imagine the headlines: the government won thanks to (Le Pen's) National Rally. We don't want to fall into this trap," a government source said.

Left-wing parties said the government's reluctance to hold a confidence vote - a first in 30 years - was undemocratic. They tabled a no-confidence motion, which will be voted on in the coming days. This is much less risky for Borne. A no-confidence motion requires an absolute majority to precipitate a government's fall. Barring any major surprise, this will not happen after the conservative Les Republicains (LR) and the National Rally said they would not back it.

(Additional reporting by Tassilo Hummel, Noemie Olive; Writing by Ingrid Melander; Editing by Alison Williams and Gareth Jones)

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