French Prime Minister Michel Barnier’s government has been defeated in a confidence vote in the French National Assembly, intensifying a political crisis and raising concerns about the country’s budget for the coming year, Al Jazeera reported on Wednesday.
Earlier today, the 331 members of the 577-seat lower house of the French parliament voted to remove Barnier’s centrist minority government, throwing the country into political instability as it faces a growing budget deficit, as reported by Al Jazeera.
According to Al Jazeera, the vote was triggered by far-left and far-right opposition parties after Barnier used special powers to push through budget measures without parliamentary approval.
Barnier’s government became the first in more than six decades to be toppled by a no-confidence vote, and he is expected to offer his resignation and that of his government to French President Emmanuel Macron.
According to Euronews, Barnier became the shortest-serving prime minister in the history of the French Fifth Republic after the left-wing New Popular Front (NFP) alliance and the far-right National Rally (RN) party united to remove him during the no-confidence vote.
At 73 years old, Barnier served only 91 days as prime minister, while his government, consisting of centrist and right-wing ministers, lasted just 74 days, as reported by Euronews.
Barnier’s government became a target of two no-confidence votes after it used Article 49.3 of the French constitution to bypass a parliamentary vote and push through a social security budget bill, Euronews reported. The social security budget bill has now been rejected.
Barnier led a fragile minority government composed of President Macron’s centrist party and the right-wing Les Republicains (LR), but the alliance was informal and lacked an absolute majority. The RN, with 124 seats in the National Assembly, held significant influence in the political landscape.
Under the current constitution, Macron cannot call fresh legislative elections until next July, meaning any new government would need to involve multiple parties, as reported by Euronews.
