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Prime Minister Barnier resigns as France's political crisis deepens
Barnier, a veteran politician who was formerly the European Union's Brexit negotiator, will be the shortest-serving prime minister in modern French history after he hands in his resignation at around 10 am (0900 GMT). No French government had lost a confidence vote since Georges Pompidou's in 1962.
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France's Prime Minister Michel Barnier receives makeup touch-ups prior to a televised interview broadcast on the evening news on French TV channels TF1 and France 2, at Hotel Matignon in Paris, on December 3, 2024. (AFP/Thomas Samson)
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rench Prime Minister Michel Barnier will resign on Thursdayafter far-right and leftist lawmakers voted to topple his government, plunging the euro zone's second-largest economydeeper into political crisis.
Barnier, a veteran politician who was formerly the European Union's Brexit negotiator, will be the shortest-serving prime minister in modern French history after he hands in his resignation at around 10 am (0900 GMT). No French government had lost a confidence vote since Georges Pompidou's in 1962.
The political turmoil further weakens a European Union already reeling from the implosion of Germany's coalition government, and comes weeks before US President-elect Donald Trump returns to the White House.
The hard left and far right punished Barnier in a no-confidence vote on Wednesday evening for trying to push an unpopular budget through an unruly hung parliament without a vote. The draft budget had sought 60 billion euros ($63 billion) in savings in a drive to shrink a gaping deficit.
Barnier's resignation caps weeks of tensions over the budget, which Marine Le Pen's far-right National Rally said was too harsh on working people.
It also further weakens the standing of President Emmanuel Macron, who precipitated the ongoing crisis with an ill-fated decision to call a snap election in June.
Macron, who faces growing calls to resign, has a mandate until 2027 and cannot be pushed out.
Still, the long-running political debacle has left him a diminished figure. An online poll carried out just after the no-confidence motion showed 64% of voters want Macron to resign.
"The main culprit for the current situation is Emmanuel Macron," Le Pen told TF1 TV late on Wednesday. "The dissolution (of parliament in June) and censorship (of the government) are the consequence of his policies and of the considerable divide which exists today between him and the French."
A small majority of voters approved parliament bringing down Barnier, but many were still worried about its economic and political consequence, the Toluna Harris Interactive poll for RTL broadcaster showed.
