The Daily Populous Thursday December 5th, 2024 morning edition
Authored by lemonde.fr and submitted by Lanathell

Michel Barnier in the Assemblée Nationale on Wednseday, December 4. JULIEN MUGUET FOR LE MONDE

Three months after he was appointed prime minister by French President Emmanuel Macron, Michel Barnier and his government were toppled on Wednesday, December 4, after a majority of PMs voted a no-confidence motion.

The Assemblée Nationale debated two motions of no confidence, one presented by the radical left and the other by the far right, in a standoff over next year's austerity budget, after the prime minister on Monday forced a social security financing bill through 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. A minimum of 288 were needed. Speaker Yaël Braun-Pivet confirmed Barnier would now have to "submit his resignation" to Macron and declared the session closed. This was the first successful no-confidence vote to oust a French prime minister since 1962.

Later on Wednesday, the presidency said Barnier will on Thursday submit the resignation of his government to Macron. Barnier is expected at the Elysee Palace at 0900 GMT for the formality which is a constitutional obligation following a vote of no confidence.

"The worst policy would be not to block such a budget," three-time far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen said during the parliamentary debate, urging lawmakers to vote out the government and its "technocratic" choices.

Marine Le Pen in the Assemblée Nationale on December 4, 2024. JULIEN MUGUET FOR LE MONDE

On Tuesday, Macron had accused Le Pen's far right of "unbearable cynicism" for planning to back the left's motion.

Eric Coquerel, a radical-left MP, said the motion sounded the "death knell of Emmanuel Macron's mandate." The French president was "today an obstacle, and in no way a solution. Today we are voting to overthrow your government, but more than anything else, we are sounding the death knell for a mandate: that of the president," he added.

Laurent Wauquiez, the head of conservative MPs in the Assemblée, said the far right and hard left bore the responsibility for a no-confidence vote that will "plunge the country into instability."

"We are now calling on Macron to go," Mathilde Panot, the head of the parliamentary faction of the hard-left La France Insoumise (LFI) party told reporters, urging "early presidential elections" to solve a deepening political crisis.

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. The ousting of the Barnier government presents Macron with the task of picking a viable successor with over two years of his presidential term left.

The president, who flew back to Paris just ahead of the vote after wrapping up his three-day state visit to Saudi Arabia, will address the nation on Thursday evening, the Elysée said.

Read more Subscribers only As Emmanuel Macron's influence declines, his twilight begins

Macron on Tuesday had rejected calls to resign, saying such a scenario amounted to "political fiction."

With markets nervous and France bracing for public-sector strikes against the threat of cutbacks, action that will shut schools and hit air and rail traffic, there is a growing sense of crisis.

The unions have called for civil servants, including teachers and air traffic controllers, to strike on Thursday over separate cost-cutting measures proposed by their respective ministries this autumn.

Meanwhile, Macron is due to host a major international event 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.

alabasterheart on December 4th, 2024 at 20:19 UTC »

If anyone is wondering about the background of this:

After the parliamentary elections this summer, the left won the most seats (but not a majority), but Macron controversially decided to appoint a Prime Minister from the center-right, relying on the goodwill of the far-right to not oust the government. It was always an extremely tenuously held-together government. Well, the PM Michel Barnier tried to pass a budget bill that was opposed by both the left and the far-right, which cut spending and raised taxes. When it was clear that the budget bill didn’t have the support of a majority of Parliament, he tried to force it through using a controversial provision of the French Constitution. This outraged both the left and the far-right, so they called a no confidence vote on the government, which just succeeded.

However, since the French Constitution says that there must be a year between parliamentary elections, this means that there cannot be an election until next July. In the meantime, Macron must appoint a new Prime Minister. No one is sure who he is going to appoint yet.

Spektyral on December 4th, 2024 at 20:03 UTC »

Apparently for the first time in 62 years. This year is moving crazy.

GANDHIbeSLAPIN on December 4th, 2024 at 19:35 UTC »

These are most definitely some interesting times