French parliament near collapse as PM Michel Barnier faces no confidence motion

Emmanuel Macron’s snap election in July has led to a deeply divided and unworkable parliament facing imminent collapse with a no-confidence vote against PM Michel Barnier due later this week.

French Prime Minister Michel Barnier.

France’s deeply divided parliament is on the verge of collapse with Prime Minister Michel Barnier facing a vote of no confidence after he had to use special executive powers to force through a social security financing bill on Monday.

Immediately after Mr Barnier’s dramatic decision, major political parties from the far left to the far right said they would file motions of censure thrusting the eurozone’s second biggest economy into a political calamity not seen for more than 60 years.

Clemence Guette from France Insoumise said: “This government will fall in two days’’.

Minutes later Marine Le Pen’s National Rally said it would join the motion of no confidence as did the Greens and the Socialists.

The National Rally leader Jordan Bardella said on X: “There is no way out for a government that reconnects with the thread of Macronism, that refuses to take into account the social emergency of the end of the month and that ignores the need to revive growth.’’

The former far left firebrand Jean-Luc Melanchon said all the manouvers to save the Barnier government have failed and called for the President Emmanuel Macron to also resign.

“It will fall,’’ he said of Barnier’s government, adding “and Macron, the sole person responsible for the financial and political crisis must go to give back the voice of the French people’s votes.’’

Mr Barnier had used the emergency clause 49.3 to push through the bill, an important component of his 2025 budget which seeks to rein in France’s spiralling public deficit through 60 billion euros in tax hikes and spending cuts. But in bypassing parliament and not allowing a vote, he has to now allow for a vote of confidence in his leadership which he is unlikely to get.

The development is deeply embarrassing to the French president Emmanuel Macron, whose decision to call a snap election just weeks before the Paris Olympic Games resulted in a fractured and nearly unworkable parliament. The last time a French government was toppled in this way was in 1962.

Mr Barnier had made several concessions in the hours leading up to the Monday decision, including removing reforms to medicinal prescriptions and an earlier pledge to abandon a 3bn euro electricity price hike to satisfy Marine Le Pen’s National Rally party but he wouldn’t budge on linking social security changes to inflation.

Mr Barnier, a former EU Brexit negotiator, has wanted to cut the public-sector deficit to five per cent of gross domestic product, down from 6.1% this year. All the while the left wing parties have been angered that Mr Barnier appeared to only want to negotiate with the National Rally.

France 24 political editor Marc Perelmen said “the prime minister will be out, he only has another 48 hours as prime minister and then it goes back to the president Emmanuel Macron, and who does Macron appoint?’’

The markets have been wary of the French political crisis in recent days with the country’s borrowing costs rivalling that of Greece and French stocks falling shortly after Mr Barnier announcement. The Euro has also fallen to 14 month lows against the US dollar.

It took Mr Macron weeks to select the conservative Mr Barnier in a bid to bring together the three distinctly divergent minority political blocs to keep the country moving.

The issue appears unsolvable because none of the three blocs will align themselves with others, but a new snap election, under the French constitution, cannot be called until next July.

Mr Barnier told the parliament: “You hear and I know in your constituencies, the French people want stability and a clear picture for their daily lives. Particularly so at a time when our country has to defend its interests in Europe and across the world. This is why on basis of 49.3 I have decided to commit my government to push through the social security budget for 2025.” He urged the parliamentarians to support him in the upcoming vote in order to keep the economy stable.