The motion of censure was passed against the government Barnier presented by the opposition, at the meeting of the French National Assembly, as the heads of the opposition parties had intended, plunging the country into uncharted waters.

331 MPs voted in favor of the proposal. At least 288 votes were needed for the motion of censure to pass. It is the first time a French government has fallen due to a motion of impeachment since 1962.

According to BFM TV, French President Emmanuel Macron will address the nation at 21:00 on Thursday night (Greece time).

Barnier, who has been in office for just three months, is now obliged to submit his resignation and the resignation of his government to President Emmanuel Macron. The vote’s outcome deepens France’s political crisis and is a major blow to the European Union at a time when Germany is also mired in parliamentary election campaigning until February and weeks before Donald Trump returns to the White House.

Barnier is likely to remain as caretaker prime minister while French President Emmanuel Macron chooses his successor. There is also the possibility that Macron will appoint an unelected government of technocrats, which would likely not last long. The debate in the National Assembly was heated, with Laurent Wauquiez of the Republicans accusing the far right and the radical left, who both tabled motions of censure, of choosing chaos over responsibility. The Right and the Left argued that Barnier had failed to listen to their demands on the budget, which he pushed through on Monday without a parliamentary vote, prompting today’s vote.

During the debate preceding the vote, the representatives of the parties of the left and of the far-right party of Marine Le Pen spoke in favor of censure of the government, while the representatives of the parties of the so-called presidential majority supporting Emmanuel Macron and the Republican party. The discussion was extremely intense with constant interruptions and disapproval of the respective speakers. The representatives of the coalition parties spoke of an unholy alliance of the extreme right with the parties of the left, while the representatives of the opposition more or less argued that the fall of the Barnier government was inevitable.

Michel Barnier himself, taking the floor, underlined that “the time for truth and responsibility has arrived” and sounded the alarm about the country’s public debt, saying typically that France pays 60 billion every year. euros for interest, i.e. more than what it spends on defense and education combined. “I would like to be able to spend more but the country’s fiscal situation is not going to disappear after the motion of censure” said Michel Barnier.

Following today’s vote, Michel Barnier is expected to submit his resignation to President Macron, who has already returned to Paris after a three-day official visit to Saudi Arabia. Media reports indicate that the French president intends to announce Michel Barnier’s replacement within the next 24 hours. In this case, he will be the fourth prime minister in a row that France has known this year. The big question is whether the new prime minister will manage to have a different fate than that of Michel Barnier and above all whether France will be able to have the 2025 state budget ready before the expiration of 2024.

Le Pen: Barnier’s budget was toxic

French far-right leader Marine Le Pen said shortly after the vote that pressure was now building on President Emmanuel Macron, even though she is not calling for his resignation, adding that only Macron has the final say on the matter.

Le Pen noted that the budget that led to the fall of the government was “toxic for the French”. “The only decent solution for those who were mandated to protect them was to oppose this budget,” he added. In an interview with French broadcaster TF1, Le Pen added that there was “no other solution” than removing Barnier from his position. Asked about the future of the French president, Le Pen said: “I am not asking for the resignation of Emmanuel Macron.” However, he added that “there will come a time when, if we don’t respect the voice of the voters and we don’t show respect for the political forces and respect for the elections,” then the pressure on the president will be “obviously more and more intense.”

Mélenchon: Even with a Barnier every three months, Macron will not last three years

Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who leads the far-left party “France Insubordinate” – part of the wider left-wing coalition that tabled the motion of censure – expressed his satisfaction through Platform X that the Barnier government had fallen. “Even with a Barnier every three months, Macron will not last three years”he added, referring to the remaining time of President Macron.

The next presidential election is scheduled for April 2027, but before the vote, some had called for Macron to step down.

The radical left is calling on Macron to resign

The party of the radical left “Insubordinate France” (LFI) tonight called for the resignation of President Emmanuel Macron, after the French National Assembly voted to impeach the government of Michel Barnier.

The head of the LFI parliamentary group, Mathilde Pano, demanded “Emmanuel Macron to step down”, calling for “early presidential elections”. The future of Macron, whose term ends in 2027, is not, however, linked to the collapse of the Barnier government.

The fall of the Barnier government after just three months in power leaves Macron with a dilemma over how to proceed and who to appoint in his place.

The Constitution is clear: Only the Emmanuel Macron can appoint the prime minister to succeed Michel Barnier if he is ousted as new parliamentary elections cannot be held before July because according to the French Constitution the National Assembly must remain in office for at least one year.

Regarding the major problem of approving its state budget of France for 2025 there are two possible scenarios: The first is to form a new government that will approve it with summary procedures and the second scenario is, following a decision by the French National Assembly, not to draw up -until further notice- a new budget and to continue the state operates with a revenue and expenditure ceiling of 2024.

The confrontation in the National Assembly

Barnier: The reality of French debt will not magically disappear

“This reality remains, it will not magically disappear through motions of impeachment”the French Prime Minister said earlier in his speech.

The country’s deficit will exceed 6%, far from the 4.4% predicted by Bruno Lemaire, the former economy minister. “Debt will always be there”he emphasized

“I was not happy that I presented almost only difficult measures. I’d rather share money”he continued, before warning MPs that “this reality will not magically disappear with a motion of censure.”

Sioti: The budget increases public spending

Eric Ciotti, the former president of the Republicans and current head of the “Union of the Right for Democracy” faction that has allied with the far-right National Rally, said from the floor of the National Assembly that the government’s budget will not cut public spending.

“On the contrary, it continues to increase them”he added “It is also a budget that cannot make savings. A budget that has expressed no desire to reduce the scope of a state that has become intrusive, paralyzing everyone who wants to innovate.”

Ciotti accused Barnier of aiming to “bleed the French people” with taxes and promises that the radical right “will always protect the French people from excessive taxation”.

Le Pen accused Barnier of not trying hard enough to reach a compromise

The leader of the National Rally (RN) MPs, Marine Le Pen, defended her group’s impeachment motion, hailing an “unprecedented parliamentary moment since 1962” that would seal, she said, the end of a “government of circumstance”.

“We wanted to believe, apparently wrongly, that you wouldn’t be a mere continuation of a system that was rejected at the last election”he told Michel Barnier.

Commenting on the budget, Le Pen said that “it holds hostage the French and especially the most vulnerable, low-income, sick, poor workers, French people who are considered too rich to help” and addressing Barnier added “you only gave one answer: tax, tax and more tax”.

“The budget we’re rejecting today not only reneges on your promises,” he says. “It has no direction or vision. It is a technocratic budget that continues to slide down the slope, being very careful not to touch the totem pole that is out of immigration control.”

“The only red lines that have been abandoned for three months are finally those of your MPs”Le Pen said, regretting that the government refused to support the inflation-adjustment of pensions, which her party called for.

“They are forcing us to join our voices with the far left”said the head of the National Rally among others.

Le Pen also accused Barnier of not trying hard enough to reach a compromise.

Who will Macron choose as the new prime minister?

After Reuters reported that French President Emmanuel Macron plans to immediately install a new prime minister by Saturday, when world leaders, including US President-elect Donald Trump, gather in Paris for the reopening of Notre Dame Cathedral. of Paris in the event of a collapse of the government, the nomenclature has begun for the possible candidate.

The names that have been heard are those of: Bernard Cazeneuve, Xavier Bertrand, Sebastien Lecorny. “Nothing has been decided”, however, was Elise’s answer to a related question.