The government of President Emmanuel Macron collapsed Wednesday after the National Assembly voted for the first time in more than a half-century to oust a prime minister from office, a sign of the political gridlock that has paralyzed France. The development leaves the country’s public finances in limbo.
A no-confidence motion against the government of Prime Minister Michel Barnier won the support of 331 lawmakers in the 577-seat lower house, forcing him to resign.
Wednesday’s vote shows how the eurozone’s second-biggest economy risks becoming ungovernable. The growing fragmentation and polarization of France’s political ranks are testing the foundations of its democracy. The last time the National Assembly brought down a government was 1962 when France was reeling from the fallout of Algeria’s war for independence and an assassination attempt on then-President Charles de Gaulle.
Macron’s attempt to ward off the rise of Marine Le Pen ’s far-right National Rally by calling snap elections this summer instead saddled the country with a hung parliament.
The National Assembly—which is divided between Macron loyalists, Le Pen’s ranks and an unruly alliance of leftist parties—splintered over its first order of business: approving the government’s budget for 2025. Le Pen and leftist lawmakers backed the no-confidence motion after Barnier proposed 60 billion euros—equivalent to $63.1 billion—in spending cuts and tax increases. The budget aimed to narrow France’s deficit, which is projected to reach more than 6% of gross domestic product this year, double the European Union’s limit.
Speaking to a rowdy lower house just moments before the vote, a solemn-looking Barnier said the government urgently needs to repair its finances, adding that France spends more on servicing its public debt than on its entire defense budget.
“Listen to me, this reality is here to stay, and it won’t disappear by the magic of a motion of censure,” Barnier said.
Macron’s options for resolving the deadlock are narrowing. The president can’t dissolve the National Assembly and call for new elections until July. Instead he can allow Barnier to remain in office in a caretaker capacity to pass measures that would effectively extend this year’s budget into the early months of 2025, avoiding a government shutdown.
He can also swiftly appoint a new prime minister who could either pass the extension or scramble to pass a full budget by the end of the year, a high-stakes gamble with investors worried about the state of the country’s public finances. French stocks have fallen sharply in recent weeks, and the premium investors demand to hold the government’s long-term debt has risen to its highest level since the eurozone debt crisis of 2012.
On Wednesday Le Pen said she was prepared to vote in favor of a budget extension, after railing against Barnier’s measures as an assault on working- and middle-class households that have borne the brunt of the cost-of-living crisis.
“This budget takes the French people hostage,” Le Pen said.
