French PM, Barnier Meets Macron, To Resign After No-Confidence Vote
French Prime Minister, Michel Barnier met with President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday to formally tender his resignation following a parliamentary vote of no confidence. The president is now urgently exploring solutions to address the escalating political and economic turmoil.
Set to become modern France’s shortest-serving prime minister, Barnier arrived at the Elysee Palace shortly after 9:00 AM GMT for the resignation proceedings. As required by the constitution, both Barnier and his government are stepping down after the parliamentary loss.
A majority of lawmakers on Wednesday supported the no-confidence vote proposed by the hard left and backed by the far right headed by Marine Le Pen.
Barnier’s record-quick ejection comes after snap parliamentary elections this summer, which resulted in a hung parliament with no political force able to form an overall majority and the far right holding the key to the government’s survival.
The trigger for Barnier’s ouster was his 2025 budget plan including austerity measures that were unacceptable to a majority in parliament, but that he argued were necessary to stabilize France’s finances.
On Monday he had forced through a social security financing bill without a vote.
The successful no-confidence motion canceled the government’s entire financing plan, leading to an automatic renewal of the current budget into next year, unless any new government can somehow rush through approval of a new budget by Christmas — an unlikely scenario.
