Paris, Sep 8 (EFE).- French President Emmanuel Macron lost on Monday his fourth prime minister since January 2024, François Bayrou, after he lost a confidence vote.
The overwhelming vote forced Bayrou to submit his resignation, which is expected on Tuesday.
With 364 votes against and 194 in favor at the National Assembly, Bayrou’s government fell after only nine months in office, marking the first time a government in the Fifth Republic had fallen due to a vote of no confidence.
The entire opposition, the far-right and the left, voted against the PM in the motion he had called to back his government’s proposal of a 44 billion-euro cut for the 2026 budget.
Bayrou is the fourth prime minister since the start of Macron’s second term in May 2022. He followed Elisabeth Borne ( PM until January 2024), Gabriel Attal (PM until September 2024), and Michel Barnier (PM until December 2024).
The French presidency announced in a statement that it would accept Bayrou’s resignation and that Macron would appoint a new prime minister, ruling out early legislative elections for the time being.
The statement reminded that under constitutional prerogatives, the president can appoint any prime minister he wishes, provided he obtains the approval of the National Assembly, which is expected to be complicated due to the political fragmentation.
Economic situation
The incoming PM’s most pressing task would be France’s economic situation, as Bayrou called attention to France’s 3.4 trillion-euro accumulated deficit.
“You have the power to bring down the government, but you do not have the power to erase reality,” Bayrou told lawmakers.
“Reality will remain relentless: expenses will continue to rise, and the burden of debt, already unbearable, will grow heavier and more costly,” he said.
Bayrou said that France’s debt crisis, marked by a growing deficit and increased public borrowing, had compelled him to seek support for his budget in parliament, in the face of what he called “a silent, underground, invisible, and unbearable hemorrhage” of public borrowing.
“The greatest risk was to not take one, to let things go on without changing anything, to go on doing politics as usual,” he said.
“Submission to debt is like submission through military force. Dominated by weapons, or dominated by our creditors, because of a debt that is submerging us; in both cases, we lose our freedom,” he added.
The left is ready to govern
After accusing Bayrou of “false promises and flagrant betrayals” and Macron of being primarily responsible for the country’s political and economic crisis, the president of the Socialist Party group in the National Assembly, Boris Vallaud, declared that “It is now up to the left, which came out on top (in the last legislative election).”
The president of the Ecologist and Socialist group, Cyrielle Chatelain, also urged Macron to appoint a prime minister from the ranks of the New Popular Front (made up of socialists, ecologists, France Unbowed (LFI), and communists).
“To break the deadlock, the president has no choice but to accept cohabitation and appoint a prime minister from the ranks of the new Popular Front,” she said.
“Not to change faces, but to change course. A left-wing government cannot and must not be the lifeline of Macronist politics. Dialogue, always compromise, never,” she added.
Hard-right and hard-left call for early elections
Both Le Pen and the leader of France Unbowed, Mathilde Panot, harshly criticized Macron, whom they consider solely responsible, as they called for early elections to overcome the crisis.
“Change cannot wait any longer,” said Le Pen, who warned that if Macron appoints another prime minister, they will fall before December.
Panot, as president of the National Assembly of Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s LFI, the leading left-wing party in France and the third-largest in terms of seats in the chamber, demanded that Macron resign along with his prime minister.
“Macron is now on the front line facing the people. He too must go,” Melenchon wrote on X.
The counterpoint was provided by the president of Together for the Republic, Macron supporter and former Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, who called on MPs to reach an agreement for 18 months until the presidential elections.
All eyes are now on Macron, who must appoint a prime minister or call early elections. EFE
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