French President Macron to address nation after Barnier government’s fall

French President Emmanuel Macron is scheduled to speak to the country on Thursday evening, following the removal of Prime Minister Michel Barnier through a no-confidence motion the previous day. The presidency announced on Thursday that Mr. Barnier had tendered his resignation, but confirmed he and his cabinet would continue in their roles in a caretaker capacity until a successor government is named. Potential candidates for the next prime minister are being discussed, among them Defence Minister Sébastien Lecornu, Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau, and François Bayrou, a centrist who previously ran for president. However, identifying a candidate acceptable to the major parliamentary groups, without immediate rejection, may prove time-consuming, mirroring the situation last summer when former Prime Minister Gabriel Attal served as caretaker for two months. Mr. Barnier’s administration fell after members of parliament cast an overwhelming number of votes in favor of the motion to remove him, occurring only three months after his appointment by President Macron. The vote on Wednesday evening marked the first instance in over six decades that a French government has been defeated by a parliamentary vote. Both Marine Le Pen’s far-right party and the left-wing New Popular Front collaborated to condemn Mr. Barnier’s government, following the former Brexit negotiator’s use of exceptional powers to pass his budget without a parliamentary vote. The motion received 331 votes in favor, significantly exceeding the 288 votes needed for its approval. Following the vote, Mr. Barnier submitted his government’s resignation, and the budget that led to his removal was automatically retracted. Constitutionally, President Macron remains unaffected by Mr. Barnier’s departure. However, numerous opposition figures are becoming more vocal about their desire to compel him to resign and initiate early presidential elections – a possibility Macron has consistently dismissed. The New Popular Front (NFP), a left-wing coalition that secured the highest number of seats in the parliamentary elections, had earlier voiced criticism of Macron’s choice to appoint the centrist Barnier as prime minister instead of its preferred candidate. In conjunction with the far-right National Rally (RN), the NFP considered Mr. Barnier’s budget, which proposed €60bn (£49bn) in deficit reduction, to be unacceptable. Marine Le Pen, who leads the RN, stated that the budget was “toxic for the French”. Prior to the vote, Mr. Barnier informed the National Assembly that his removal from office would not resolve the nation’s financial difficulties. He declared, “We have reached a moment of truth, of responsibility,” and further noted that “we need to look at the realities of our debt.” He also stated, “I did not present almost exclusively difficult measures because I wanted to.” During an interview with French broadcaster TF1 on Wednesday, Le Pen asserted that there was “no other solution” but to dismiss Barnier. When questioned about the French president’s future, she responded, “I am not asking for the resignation of Emmanuel Macron.” Nevertheless, many of her associates are becoming more explicit in their hopes of compelling his resignation. Philippe Olivier, an RN adviser, informed Le Monde that the president was “a fallen republican monarch, advancing with his shirt open and a rope around his neck up to the next dissolution [of parliament]”. As new parliamentary elections cannot take place before July, the existing stalemate in the Assembly, where no single group anticipates achieving a functional majority, is expected to persist. Copyright 2024 BBC. All rights reserved. The BBC bears no responsibility for the content of external websites. Information regarding our external linking policy is available.