France is once again without a government. Less than 3 months after the appointment of the executive and less than 6 months after Emmanuel Macron's decision to dissolve Parliament, the National Assembly has voted the no confidence in the government led by Michel Barnier. In France, a successful motion of no confidence in Parliament had not been seen since 1962, while Barnier became the shortest-serving French prime minister since the adoption of the French Constitution in 1958.
The country therefore falls back intopolitical uncertainty (and economic), which Macron would like to close in record time. According to French media, the president would like to appoint a new prime minister within the next 24 hours.
The vote of no confidence
The motion of no confidence presented by the left-wing New Popular Front passed with 331 votes in favour out of 574, well above the necessary majority.
In fact, there were two motions of no confidence, the second one by the right-wing Rassemblement National. Both were tabled on Monday, after Prime Minister Barnier appealed to theArticle 49.3, which allows you to place your confidence in a measure avoiding discussion in the classroom, to pass the part of the 2025 budget that concerns the financing of Social Security.
Macron: New PM within 24 hours, 3 names in pole position
No one had any doubts about the outcome of the vote, so much so that the President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron consultations for the nomination of the new prime minister would have begun already yesterday with the aim of close games in the next 24 hours. He reports it Bfm TV, according to which the tenant of the Elysée, who returned in the evening from a state visit to Saudi Arabia, has begun to sound out the waters with his loyalists in Riyadh.
His priority, his close collaborators quoted by BFM say, would be to "do not appear without a government before Trump, who will be in Paris this weekend for the reopening of Notre Dame.” “It’s a question of credibility for France,” the source added.
Il totonomas is already mad: among the hypotheses circulating that of the former socialist prime minister Bernard Cazeneuve, the centrist François Bayrou and the Minister of Defense, Sébastien Lecornu. The last two are considered possible candidates because they are not unwelcome to Marine Le Pen who will make her 143 deputies in the Assemblée Nationale count.
Le Pen: “It’s the end of an ephemeral government”
During the discussion preceding the vote Marine Le Pen he spoke of a "moment of truth, which puts an end to a ephemeral government” and said that the decision to support the motion of no confidence presented by the far left of the New Popular Front was not taken “with joy in the heart”. “But the institutions force us to mix our voices with those of the far left”, added the leader of the Rassemblement national, hoping for “a great alternation soon”. A reference, it seemed, also to the possible Macron's resignation, which however the President of the Republic dismissed as "political fiction“, stressing that he is in office “because I was elected twice by the French people” and added: “We must not scare people with these things. We have a strong economy.”
Barnier: “It’s not for pleasure that I presented difficult measures”
Before the vote, the now ex-Prime Minister Barnier spoke to applause from the deputies of the governing coalition.We are at the moment of truth” and “responsibility”, because the “reality” of the budget “will not disappear under the spell of a motion of censure”, he told the deputies.
“It is not for pleasure that I have presented almost only difficult measures; I would have preferred to distribute money”, Barnier declared during his speech, before warning the deputies that “this reality will not disappear through the magic of a motion of no confidence”. Barnier then observed that “the truth will prevail
any other government“. “This motion of no confidence,” he added, “will make everything more serious and difficult.”
Il Prime Minister finally defended his budget law: “This text represents for me, and I say this without pretensions, a good compromise. The best possible compromise. Now is the time to implement it,” he said.
On Tuesday evening, during a press conference, Barnier had appealed for a “surge of responsibility” by the opposition who however ignored the request.
National Assembly approves 2024 end-of-year budget
Before voting no confidence in the government, the French Parliament definitively adopted the “end of management” bill for 2024, a budget text that sets out the final adjustments for the current year. According to AFP, a few minutes before the examination of the motions of censure on the Social Security budget project, the government managed to obtain the final agreement of the parliamentarians, including those of the Rassemblement National, with 318 votes in favor and 103 against.
