MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

French PM loses vote of no confidence for the first time since 1962

Barnier is likely to remain as caretaker PM until a replacement is found

French Prime Minister Michel Barnier has been forced to resign after losing a vote of no confidence Wednesday prompted by budget disputes. However, he will likely stay as a caretaker PM until President Emmanuel Macron finds a replacement. Barnier's appointment took Macron nearly two months after July’s parliamentary election. The National Assembly approved the motion by 331 votes, far exceeding the minimum 288 needed. The political standoff has unsettled financial markets, with borrowing costs rising sharply amid fears of prolonged instability.

Earlier this week, Barnier invoked Article 49.3, which allows the government to pass laws without a parliamentary vote but exposes it to motions of censure, to push through the 2025 budget and supposedly maintain “stability”, which provoked a response from across the political spectrum on Wednesday, especially after the proposed cuts of € 40,000 million in spending and a tax increase of 20,000 million.

“I don’t consider it a victory,” far-right opposition leader Marine Le Pen said. “We made the choice we made to protect the French people” because “there was no other solution.”

Jean-Luc Melenchon of La France Insoumise said that the outcome was “inevitable” and called for Macron’s resignation. “Even with a Barnier every three months, Macron will not last three years,” he said on X.

There have been almost 150 no-confidence motions since the Fifth Republic was established in 1958 but only Georges Pompidou’s in October 1962 had gone through.