French government toppled in no-confidence vote, deepening political crisis

Far-right and left-wing lawmakers joined forces against PM Michel Barnier, in the first such ousting in over 60 years

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French Prime Minister Michel Barnier removes his glasses after giving a speech during a debate on two motions of no-confidence against the French government in Paris on Wednesday. Photo: Reuters

Published: 3:53am, 5 Dec 2024Updated: 3:32pm, 5 Dec 2024

French lawmakers passed a no-confidence vote against the government on Wednesday, throwing the European Union’s second-biggest economic power deeper into a crisis that threatens its capacity to legislate and tame a massive budget deficit.

Far-right and left-wing lawmakers joined forces to back a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Michel Barnier, with a majority 331 votes in support of the motion.

Barnier now has to tender his resignation and that of his government to President Emmanuel Macron, making his minority government’s three-month tenure the shortest lived in France’s Fifth Republic beginning in 1958. He is expected to do so on Thursday.

The hard left and far-right punished Barnier for using special constitutional powers to adopt part of an unpopular budget without a final vote in parliament, where it lacked majority support. The draft budget had sought €60 billion (US$63.07 billion) in savings in a drive to shrink a gaping deficit.

The French National Assembly in Paris on Wednesday. Photo: AFP

“This (deficit) reality will not disappear by the magic of a motion of censure,” Barnier told lawmakers ahead of the vote, adding the budget deficit would come back to haunt whichever government comes next.