French opposition politicians brought the government down on Wednesday, throwing the European Union’s second-biggest economic power deeper into a political crisis that threatens its capacity to legislate and rein in a massive budget deficit.
Far-right and left-wing lawmakers joined forces to back a no-confidence motion against prime minister Michel Barnier and his government, with a majority 331 votes in support of the motion.
Mr Barnier was expected to tender his resignation and that of his government to president Emmanuel Macron shortly.
“This [deficit] reality will not disappear by the magic of a motion of censure,” Mr Barnier told lawmakers ahead of the vote, adding the budget deficit would come back to haunt whichever government comes next.
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No French government had lost a confidence vote since Georges Pompidou’s in 1962. This time, Mr Macron had ushered in the crisis by calling a snap election in June that delivered a polarised parliament.
With its president diminished, France now risks ending the year without a stable government or a 2025 budget, although the constitution allows special measures that would avert a US-style government shutdown.
France’s political turmoil will further weaken a European Union already reeling from the implosion of Germany’s coalition government, and weeks before US president-elect Donald Trump returns to the White House.
[ France crisis: What will happen if government loses no-confidence vote?Opens in new window ]
The left and far right punished Mr Barnier for opting to use special constitutional powers to ram part of an unpopular budget, which sought €60 billion in savings in an effort to shrink the deficit, through parliament without a final vote.
Far-right chief Marine Le Pen had said collapsing the government was “the only way the constitution gives us to protect the French from a dangerous, unfair and punitive budget”.
“We have arrived at the moment of truth,” Ms Le Pen said, adding that MrBarnier’s austerity budget plans had been dangerous and unfair and would have meant chaos for France.
The hard left France Unbowed (LFI) party demanded Mr Macron’s resignation.
“With the no-confidence motion, all of the politics of Emmanuel Macron have been defeated and we demand that he goes,” said LFI member Mathilde Panot.
France now faces a period of deep political uncertainty that is already unnerving investors in French sovereign bonds and stocks. Earlier this week, France’s borrowing costs briefly exceeded those of Greece, generally considered far more risky.
Mr Macron must now make a choice.
Three sources told Reuters that Mr Macron aimed to install a new prime minister swiftly, with one saying he wanted to name a premier before a ceremony to reopen the Notre-Dame Cathedral on Saturday.
Any new prime minister would face the same challenges as Mr Barnier in getting Bills, including the 2025 budget, adopted by a divided parliament. There can be no new parliamentary election before July.
Mr Macron could alternatively ask Mr Barnier and his ministers to stay on in a caretaker capacity while he takes time to identify a prime minister able to attract sufficient cross-party support to pass legislation.
A caretaker government could either propose emergency legislation to roll over the tax-and-spend provisions in the 2024 budget into next year, or invoke special powers to pass the draft 2025 budget by decree – though jurists say this is a legal grey area and the political cost would be huge.
The danger for Mr Macron is that his opponents vote down one prime minister after the next.
His rivals say the only meaningful way to end the protracted political crisis is for him to resign, something he has hitherto shown little inclination to do.
The upheaval is not without risk for Ms Le Pen, who has for years sought to convince voters that her party offers a stable government in waiting.
Mr Barnier’s entourage and Ms Le Pen’s National Rally party, which had been propping up the minority coalition, each blame the other for the crisis. – Reuters
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