France’s political crisis deepens as lawmakers topple government

French Prime Minister Michel Barnier’s three-month-old minority government was toppled on Wednesday in a no-confidence motion supported by left-wing and far-right opposition lawmakers.

Marine Le Pen’s far-right nationalists and the leftist alliance New Popular Front (NFP) voted together to oust the government. In total, 331 of the 577 lawmakers in the National Assembly – France’s lower house of parliament – withdrew their support for Barnier.

Barnier is now obliged to submit his resignation and that of the government to President Emmanuel Macron.

The collapse, which was precipitated by a fight over Barnier’s austerity budget, plunges one of Europe’s most powerful players into deeper political turmoil amid major economic challenges.

A new parliamentary election cannot be held until a year after the last vote in July, according to France’s constitution.

None of the political blocs holds an absolute majority in parliament, meaning it is unlikely that anything stronger than a minority government will be able to be formed.

The last time a French government was ousted in a no-confidence vote was in 1962.

Opposition points finger at Macron

Following the vote, the left-wing alliance increased their calls for Macron to resign and call an early presidential election, currently scheduled for 2027.

“To get out of the impasse into which the president has led the country, we have only one solution: We are now calling on Emmanuel Macron to leave,” said Mathilde Panot, the parliamentary leader of the France Unbowed party, which is part of the NFP.

“We are not the chaos, that has been Emmanuel Macron for the last seven years,” she said, adding that the president’s policies have also been defeated by the vote of no confidence.

The president has repeatedly stated that he wants to remain head of state until the end of his term.

Le Pen also blamed Macron for the fall of the government, saying that the president “is largely responsible for the current situation” on the French television channel TF1.

But Le Pen said she would not call for Macron to resign, saying that with pressure mounting, he would have to decide for himself whether he wanted to call an early presidential election.

Barnier’s fragile government

Barnier, a veteran conservative French politician who is known for having led the European Union’s talks with Britain over the country’s exit from the bloc, was picked by Macron to be prime minister in September.

Barnier took up the job after weeks of uncertainty triggered by Macron’s decision to hold snap parliamentary elections in June and July in an attempt to shore up his support.

His defeat on Wednesday was expected and came after the NFP and Le Pen’s National Rally both tabled no-confidence motions against him.

The first motion voted on by lawmakers – and the one that brought the government down – was from the NFP. It passed with the support of Le Pen’s party.

The opposition was angered by Barnier’s decision on Monday to use special powers to push through a part of his 2025 budget – which features tax hikes and government spending cuts – without parliamentary approval.

France, the second-largest eurozone economy, is facing a yawning budget deficit that is wracking French stocks and bonds and pushing up borrowing costs.

After the collapse of Germany’s government last month, two of Europe’s main players may now grind to a political standstill due to domestic crises.