French Government Dismissed for the First Time in 62 Years: President Macron to Address the Nation
In France, the National Assembly has supported a vote of no confidence in Prime Minister Michel Barnier. The vote was initiated by the far-right National Rally together with the left-wing New Popular Front coalition. The vote of no confidence in Barnier's government was cast by 331 MPs out of the minimum required 289, Le Figaro reports.
After the historic censorship, Michel Barnier is expected to submit his resignation to Emmanuel Macron at the Elysee Palace at 10:00 a.m. on Thursday, 5 December. The head of state will address the nation at 20:00 to try to set a course for the beginning of a new political period of uncertainty.
The last time MPs in France passed a vote of no confidence in the current government was in 1962 against Georges Pompidou.
According to the law, after a vote of no confidence, the prime minister and the entire cabinet must resign.
Barnier became the shortest-serving prime minister in modern French history. On 2 December, he announced the use of a special procedure to approve the budget without a vote during the National Assembly session - the application of Article 49.3 of the French Constitution, which allows the government to make decisions without the consent of the parliament in special cases.
However, after Article 49.3 is invoked, the National Assembly is required by law to consider a vote of no confidence in the government within 48 hours. The left-wing parties and the far-right National Rally had previously promised to support the vote, and without their votes, Barnier does not have a majority.
The vote of no confidence in the government, passed by the National Assembly on Wednesday evening, de facto halts the cuts to the community's budget for 2025. The budget issue has become a sticking point between parliamentarians and the government.
Barnier negotiated with the National Rally to the end and made several concessions to meet their budget demands. The prime minister agreed to abandon the planned cuts in drug reimbursement and cancelled an increase in electricity prices worth about €3 billion. But the French far right called these measures insufficient.
In the absence of a state budget voted on by 31 December, the most likely scenario, he said, is that communities will see last year's budget applied through a ‘special law’ passed by MPs.