PARIS, Dec 5 (NNN-AGENCIES) — French lawmakers on Wednesday voted to oust the government of Prime Minister Michel Barnier after just three months in office, a historic move which plunged the country further into political chaos.
For the first time in over 60 years, the National Assembly Lower House toppled the incumbent government, approving a no-confidence motion that had been proposed by the hard left but which crucially was backed by the far-right, headed by Marine Le Pen.
Barnier’s rapid ejection from office comes after snap parliamentary elections this summer that resulted in a hung Parliament, with no party having an overall majority and the far-right holding the key to the government’s survival.
President Emmanuel Macron now has the unenviable choice of picking a viable successor with over two years of his presidential term left.
The National Assembly debated a motion brought by the hard left in a stand-off over 2025’s austerity Budget, after the Prime Minister on Monday forced through a social security financing Bill without a vote.
With the support of the far-right, a majority of 331 MPs in the 577-member Chamber voted to oust the government.
Speaker Yael Braun-Pivet confirmed Barnier would now have to “submit his resignation” to Macron and declared the session closed.
Macron flew back into Paris just ahead of the vote after wrapping up a three-day state visit to Saudi Arabia, an apparent world away from the domestic crisis.
On Tuesday, Macron accused Le Pen’s far-right of “unbearable cynicism” in backing the motion.
No new elections can be called within a year of last summer’s vote, narrowing Macron’s options.
Some have suggested Macron himself should resign to break the impasse.
But Macron rejected those calls, saying such a scenario amounted to “political fiction”.
“It’s frankly not up to scratch to say these things,” Macron said, during his trip to Saudi.
Meanwhile, Macron is due to host a major international event on Saturday with the reopening of the Notre-Dame cathedral after the 2019 fire, with guests including Donald Trump on his first foreign trip since he was elected to be the next US president.
It was the first successful no-confidence vote since a defeat for Georges Pompidou’s government in 1962, when Charles de Gaulle was president.
The lifespan of Barnier’s government is also the shortest of any administration since the Fifth Republic began in 1958. — NNN-AGENCIES
