The French National Assembly voted this Wednesday in favor of the motion of censure against the government of Prime Minister Michel Barnier, forcing his resignation and forcing Emmanuel Macron to appoint a new head of government.
All the experience accumulated in more than 40 years of political career—including the Brexit negotiation—has not helped Michel Barnier to withstand the period of instability that France is going through. The motion presented by the deputies of the New Popular Party (NFP) has gone ahead with the support of progressive parties and extreme right-wing formations, obtaining 331 of the 289 votes necessary to mark the majority.
“It is Macron’s policy that has lost” tonight, said Mathilde Panot, deputy and president of La Francia Insumisa, after the vote on the motion of censure. “The only way out is to call presidential elections,” Panot added after calling for Macron’s resignation.
The motion is a response to the law on the Social Security budget, which Barnier had approved on Monday without going through a parliamentary vote. To be approved, the motion only requires a simple parliamentary majority and, unlike Spain, does not require presenting an alternative candidate, so President Macron must now search for a new head of government.
“There is an urgent need to address our budget debt,” he said. “It is not a pleasure to have presented almost only difficult measures […] This reality will not disappear because of the charm of a motion of censure,” Barnier said during the debate on the motion.
Marine Le Pen, leader of the far right, had already warned that her party would vote in favor of all motions “regardless of their origin.” “It is the end of an ephemeral Government.” “The worst possible policy would be not to censor a budget and a government like this […] “His intransigence, sectarianism and dogmatism have prevented him from making the slightest concession, which would have avoided this result.”
Éric Coquerel, deputy of France Insoumise, opened the session explaining the reasons for his motion. “Today we make history because you are going to be the first prime minister to be censored since Georges Pompidou in 1962,” he noted. “The real person responsible for this situation is Emmanuel Macron.”
The night before the decisive vote, Barnier gave an interview to the channels TF1 and France 2 and tried to put pressure on Marine Le Pen’s party, pointing out that “they will have to explain their actions to their voters” if they decide to join “the extreme left’s motion of censure.”
The French head of government has warned about the consequences of political instability. “I see the markets, the spreads [diferencial de tipos de interés respecto a Alemania]I see that we are below Greece [en la prima de riesgo]; “The impact of this instability will be seen immediately.”
The French media are also questioning the political and electoral consequences of Le Pen’s decision to overthrow the Executive. A decision demanded by the bases of his party – hostile to any government that includes ministers from the presidential party – the instability that it will generate may alarm the traditional right-wing voters whom he aspires to convince in the face of the next presidential election.
Pressure on Macron
With the fall of the prime minister and the fragmentation of the Assembly, eyes turn to Emmanuel Macron. Since the early legislative elections, called by the president in June, the country has found itself in a situation of political instability.
“My priority is stability,” the head of state told the press during his visit to Saudi Arabia this week. However, some parties are beginning to demand the resignation of the president as a way out of a possible sequence of institutional blockade and the absence of an operational government.
The deputies of France Insoumise (LFI) are the ones who are putting the most pressure in this regard. “We find ourselves in a situation of political blockade, the resignation of Emmanuel Macron would resolve this situation. “This idea is gaining ground,” LFI coordinator Manuel Bompard said on Wednesday. Other partners of the New Popular Front, such as the socialists, do not call for the president’s resignation.
If Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s party is the one that evokes the idea most insistently, the possibility has also been suggested by members of the extreme right and even by some relevant figures on the right, such as the president of the Association of Mayors French David Lisnard.
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