French government survives no-confidence vote over heatwave handling

PARIS, July 6 (Reuters) - ‌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.

(Reporting by Dominique Vidalon and Elizabeth Pineau; Editing by Makini Brice and Alex ‌Richardson)

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