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France’s parliament voted Wednesday to oust Prime Minister Michel Barnier over his proposed cuts to the budget deficit, plunging the country into deeper political turmoil.
The motion of no confidence was approved by 331 votes in the 577-member National Assembly, as Marine Le Pen’s far-right party teamed up with a left-wing bloc to topple Barnier’s minority government.
Barnier’s administration collapsed without passing his controversial 2025 budget, which included 60 billion euros in tax increases and spending cuts to reduce France’s deficit, which will reach 6 percent of GDP this year.
President Emmanuel Macron will now have to choose another prime minister, a task made more difficult by a fractious parliament divided into three blocs, none of which is even close to a ruling majority.
Barnier told parliament on Wednesday, before the no-confidence vote: “I was and am proud to act to build, not to destroy.”
He said it was “not a pleasure” to present a tough budget. France’s fiscal “reality will not disappear with the magic of a motion of no confidence,” he added.
Macron will have to contend with an emboldened Le Pen and her Rassemblement National party, which was instrumental in ousting Barnier after rejecting his latest attempts at a budget compromise.
Le Pen said her decision to censure Barnier was driven by “the need to put an end to the chaos, to spare the French people a dangerous, unjust and punitive budget”.
Barnier’s three-month term as prime minister was the shortest of any prime minister since the French Fifth Republic was founded in 1958. It is only the second time the government has been replaced since then.
The centre-right politician was appointed by Macron in September after the president’s centrist alliance lost early parliamentary elections, swelling the ranks of far-right and left-wing parties.
Barnier’s departure is a sign of how closed French institutions have become since the election.
“It seems like a series of impasses in a parliament where nobody has a functional majority,” said Bruno Cautrès, a political scientist at Sciences Po. “There is a risk that the new government will fall quickly, just as Barnier did.”
Barnier has previously warned of a financial and economic “storm” if his government falls without adopting a 2025 budget. France’s borrowing costs for its 10-year government bonds hit a 12-year high against Germany last week.
Barnier said borrowing costs are on track to exceed 60 billion euros next year, more than the defense budget.
