French gov't survives no-confidence vote over heatwave response

The French government led by Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu survived a no-confidence vote on Monday after deputies in the National Assembly rejected a motion criticizing its handling of the June heatwave, reported Xinhua. The motion, tabled on July 2 by Green Party lawmakers and some lawmakers from the hard-left parliamentary group La France Insoumise and the left-wing Socialist Party, accused the government of failing to respond adequately to the record-breaking and deadly heatwave that swept across France in late June. According to the National Assembly, the motion received 132 votes in favor, well below the threshold of 289 needed to bring down the government. The lawmakers backing the motion argued that the June heatwave overwhelmed emergency services, forced school closures and train disruptions, and exposed the consequences of years of underinvestment in public services. They also criticized the government for failing to take emergency measures to mitigate the impact of the crisis on the population. The supporters of the motion further said that, according to Meteo-France, the June heatwave was the country's 27th since 2010, however, the government had failed to take sufficient action despite increasingly frequent extreme weather events. The past month has become the hottest June since France began such records in 1947. The average temperature in the past June reached 22.7 degrees Celsius, 3.8 degrees Celsius above the 1991-2020 normal, Meteo-France said Friday in its monthly climate report. The historic heatwave that began on June 17 pushed temperatures to unprecedented levels across the country from June 22 to 26. The early and intense heatwave continued until June 30, placing a total of 72 French departments under red heatwave alert. Meteo-France said it was unprecedented since the alert system was created in 2004. Preliminary surveillance data showed that 2,025 excess all-cause deaths were recorded in France during the heatwave from June 22 to 28, representing a 29.1 percent increase from the previous week, the country's public health agency said on Friday.