Political crisis: Opposition overthrows French government with vote of no confidence

With a vote of no confidence, the opposition in France brought down the center-right government of Prime Minister Michel Barnier. Marine Le Pen’s right-wing nationalists and the left-wing camp voted together against the government in the National Assembly and thus achieved the necessary majority.

A total of 331 of the 577 MPs withdrew their confidence in the cabinet. Barnier must now submit his resignation and the resignation of the government to President Emmanuel Macron. The office of head of state is not affected by the vote of no confidence.

Left calls for Macron’s resignation

In the evening, France’s left called for the resignation of President Emmanuel Macron. “In order to get out of the impasse into which the president has led the country, we only have one solution: we now call on Emmanuel Macron to leave,” said the leader of the left-wing party La France Insoumise (LFI), Mathilde Panot. “We are not the chaos, it has been Emmanuel Macron for seven years.” With the vote of no confidence, his politics were defeated.

The leader of France’s right-wing nationalist party, Marine Le Pen, also blamed Macron for the political crisis that had occurred. “He is the great person responsible for the current situation,” Le Pen said on TF1. “I am not calling for Emmanuel Macron to resign,” said Le Pen. But the pressure on him will increase; he will have to decide for himself whether he wants to stay in office until 2027 or call early elections.

Macron plans to give a speech on Thursday evening

The head of state himself only wanted to speak to the nation on Thursday evening, the Elysée Palace said. Macron only returned to Paris from Saudi Arabia during the day. The vote on the no-confidence motion had been waited until the president was back in the country.

The fall of the government plunges France into a deep political crisis. A new parliamentary election will not be possible again until next summer. The balance of power therefore remains a stalemate. Neither the left-wing camp that won the parliamentary elections in the summer, nor Macron’s center forces, nor the right-wing nationalists around Marine Le Pen and their allies have their own majority. The government search is likely to be difficult again. It seems unlikely that there will be enough for more than a minority government in the end.

Macron also put pressure on him

After Germany, the second pillar of the important German-French engine in Europe is also in danger of slipping into a temporary political standstill and, above all, having to worry about its domestic political problems. Macron’s office remains unaffected by the vote of no confidence. As president, he appoints the prime minister. After the parliamentary election he was heavily involved in the government search and is now likely to do so again.

In addition, the fall of the government does not leave him unscathed either. The head of state appointed Barnier as prime minister after long explorations, and his centrist forces also governed. The opposition is now likely to try to push Macron to hold an early presidential election due to the complicated political situation. Until now, Macron had always rejected this.

Necessary austerity budget not passed

The political crisis is also unfortunate for France’s economy. The country has too much new debt. Barnier wanted to get this under control again. His government failed due to the escalating dispute over the austerity budget. It will probably go down as one of the shortest governments in recent French history.