French parliament fires PM Barnier, plunging country into deep political crisis

French President Emmanuel Macron is facing the worst political crisis of his career as the parliament Wednesday (Dec 5) passed a no-confidence motion against the coalition of right-wing Prime Minister Michel Barnier. He was appointed by Macron to the PM post just three months back, and now his exit makes his administration’s stint the shortest that Paris has seen since 1958.

The no-confidence proposal was tabled by left-wing parties but was also backed by lawmakers from National Rally, the right-wing party of anti-immigration champion Marine Le Pen. The proposal saw overwhelming support from 331 lawmakers, a clear majority. Macron is not obliged to step down following the vote but his biggest challenge would be to deal with a divided national assembly.

French political crisis began with June snap elections as no alliance or party got absolute majority, as the assembly essentially stood divided among three major groups—Macron’s centrist group, Le Pen’s far right-wing camp and a group of leftist parties. Following two months of uncertainty, Macron had appointed Barnier as the country’s PM in September after getting initial support from the National Rally.

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The no-confidence vote was triggered by Barnier’s push to rush a social security financing bill by invoking Article 49.3 of the constitution, which allows a government to pass legislation without a vote in parliament. It prompted both left-wing and right-wing parties to bring a no-confidence motion against the loosely held alliance.

One of the key tasks of the Barnier government was to get approved the budget for 2025, which he claimed would address France’s deficit with €60bn in tax increases and spending cuts. But the standoff continued even after weeks of negotiations. Le Pen labelled the proposed budget a danger to the country and ‘a disaster’.

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Jean-Philippe Tanguy, a National Rally MP lawmaker, also criticised the draft budget saying. “[Having] no budget is better than the actual budget, which says a lot about how bad it is.”

The French political crisis is expected to last at least until July 2025, the month after which new parliament polls can be called.

(With inputs from agencies)