The French government is all but certain to collapse later this week after far-right and left-wing parties submitted no-confidence motions on Monday against Prime Minister Michel Barnier.
Investors immediately punished French assets as the latest developments plunged the euro zone's second-biggest economy deeper into political crisis, with serious doubt cast over whether the annual budget will be approved.
"The French have had enough," National Rally (RN) leader Marine Le Pen told reporters in parliament, saying Barnier, who only became prime minister in early September, had made things worse and needed to be pushed out. "We are proposing a motion of no confidence against the government," she said.
Barring a last-minute surprise, Barnier's fragile coalition will be the first French government to be forced out by a no-confidence vote since 1962.
A government collapse would leave a hole at the heart of Europe, with Germany also in election mode, weeks ahead of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump re-entering the White House.
RN lawmakers and the left combined have enough votes to topple Barnier and Le Pen confirmed her party would vote for the left-wing coalition's no-confidence bill on top of the RN's own bill. That vote is likely to be held on Wednesday.
The parties announced their no-confidence motions after Barnier said earlier on Monday that he would try to ram a social security bill through parliament without a vote as a last-minute concession proved insufficient to win RN's support for the legislation.
"Faced with this umpteenth denial of democracy, we will censure the government," said Mathilde Panot of the left-wing France Unbowed. "We are living in political chaos because of Michel Barnier's government and Emmanuel Macron's presidency."
The spread between French bonds and the German benchmark widened further and a sell-off in the euro gathered pace.
Since Macron called snap elections in early June, France's CAC 40 has dropped nearly 10% and is the heaviest faller among top EU economies. It closed flat on Monday after dropping over 1% earlier in the day.
BLAME GAME
Barnier urged lawmakers not to back the no-confidence vote.
"We are at a moment of truth ... The French will not forgive us for putting the interests of individuals before the future of the country," he said as he put his government's fate in the hands of the divided parliament which was the result of an inconclusive snap election Macron called in June.
Barnier's minority government had relied on RN support for its survival. The budget bill, which seeks to rein in France's spiraling public deficit through 60 billion euros ($63 billion) in tax hikes and spending cuts, snapped that tenuous link.
Barnier's entourage and Le Pen's camp each blamed the other and said they had done all they could to reach a deal and had been open to dialogue.
A source close to Barnier said the prime minister had made major concessions to Le Pen and that voting to bring down the government would mean losing those gains.
"Is she ready to sacrifice all the wins she got?" the source told Reuters.
If the no-confidence vote does indeed go through, Barnier would have to tender his resignation but Macron may ask him and his government to stay on in a caretaker role to handle day-to-day business while he seeks a new prime minister, which could well happen only next year.
One option would be for Macron to name a government of technocrats with no political programme, hoping that could help survive a no-confidence vote. In any case, there can be no new snap parliamentary elections before July.
As far as the budget is concerned, if parliament has not adopted it by Dec. 20, the caretaker government could invoke constitutional powers to pass it by ordinance.
However, that would be risky as there is a legal grey area about whether a caretaker government can use such powers. And that would be sure to trigger uproar from the opposition.
A more likely move would be for the caretaker government to propose special emergency legislation to roll over spending limits and tax provisions from this year. But that would mean that savings measures Barnier had planned would fall by the wayside.
Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has firmly rejected and condemned the French Foreign Minister’s recent accusations of interference, accusing France of attempting to divert attention from its actions in New Caledonia and undermining efforts for decolonization.
David Balland, a co-founder of the French crypto firm Ledger, was kidnapped along with his wife.
Indonesia and France have finalized an agreement to repatriate Serge Atlaoui.
An international conference held in Baku shed light on the ongoing impact of French colonialism in La Réunion. Participants discussed the economic, political, and social challenges facing the island, emphasizing the need for independence and systemic change.
Algeria’s Speaker of the Council of the Nation, Saleh Goudjil, has called on France to take full responsibility for the lasting effects of nuclear tests conducted in the Algerian desert during the colonial period, highlighting the ongoing suffering of local populations.
libaba has unveiled Qwen 2.5-Max, a new AI model that it claims surpasses DeepSeek-V3, OpenAI’s GPT-4o, and Meta’s Llama-3.1-405B across multiple benchmarks. The release, made on the first day of the Lunar New Year, underscores the growing competition among Chinese AI developers.
OpenAI has introduced ChatGPT Gov, a secure, government-tailored version of its AI chatbot designed to enhance efficiency and service delivery across U.S. federal, state, and local agencies.
Millions of people across East and Southeast Asia are starting celebrations for Lunar New Year.
A new opinion poll shows 85% of Greenlanders oppose the idea of their island joining the United States, following Donald Trump's repeated calls for the US to take control of the semi-autonomous territory.
Russian investigators confirm a Pantsir-S1 missile downed Azerbaijan Airlines Flight 8243. Baku demands accountability as tensions rise over Moscow's next steps.
BP aims to join the Karabakh oil field project in Azerbaijan by 2025, with negotiations underway to finalize terms with SOCAR for this strategic offshore development.
BP Azerbaijan has announced plans to build a new compression platform at the Shah Deniz gas field to optimize production, company spokesperson Tamam Bayatly confirmed in a press briefing.
Protests erupted in Berlin against the far-right coincided with an AfD campaign event in Halle, as tensions rise over potential CDU-AfD coalition talks ahead of next month’s elections.
libaba has unveiled Qwen 2.5-Max, a new AI model that it claims surpasses DeepSeek-V3, OpenAI’s GPT-4o, and Meta’s Llama-3.1-405B across multiple benchmarks. The release, made on the first day of the Lunar New Year, underscores the growing competition among Chinese AI developers.
OpenAI has introduced ChatGPT Gov, a secure, government-tailored version of its AI chatbot designed to enhance efficiency and service delivery across U.S. federal, state, and local agencies.
A new opinion poll shows 85% of Greenlanders oppose the idea of their island joining the United States, following Donald Trump's repeated calls for the US to take control of the semi-autonomous territory.
A plane crash in South Sudan's Unity State has claimed 18 lives, with 21 passengers and crew on board. The aircraft, departing from an oilfield, crashed under unclear circumstances, marking the latest in a series of deadly air incidents in the war-torn nation.
Atomic scientists have set the symbolic Doomsday clock at 89 seconds to midnight. That's one second closer to the theoretical point of destruction than last year.
libaba has unveiled Qwen 2.5-Max, a new AI model that it claims surpasses DeepSeek-V3, OpenAI’s GPT-4o, and Meta’s Llama-3.1-405B across multiple benchmarks. The release, made on the first day of the Lunar New Year, underscores the growing competition among Chinese AI developers.
OpenAI has introduced ChatGPT Gov, a secure, government-tailored version of its AI chatbot designed to enhance efficiency and service delivery across U.S. federal, state, and local agencies.
Millions of people across East and Southeast Asia are starting celebrations for Lunar New Year.
A new opinion poll shows 85% of Greenlanders oppose the idea of their island joining the United States, following Donald Trump's repeated calls for the US to take control of the semi-autonomous territory.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment