by Admin
Dec 6, 2024
In a surprise turn of events, the French parliament has passed a vote of no-confidence in a shocking decision that could lead to the resignation of Michel Barnie, the Prime Minister who has barely spent three months as the country’s oldest prime minister.
The decision by the French lawmakers to reject a government has not happened in six decades, placing the country’s political system in turbulent times.
The vote was led by Marine Le Pen, a far-right politician and former presidential aspirant who ran against President Emmanuel Macron in the last presidential election but lost to Macron. Marine Le Pen united with opposition leaders to censure Michel Barnier’s government after the former Brexit negotiator moved controversially to push for the execution of his budget without a vote in the parliament.
Marine Le Pen pushed for a total vote of 336, which is more than enough for the required votes of 288. The decision made has warranted Michel Barnier to tender his resignation but, he will remain a caretaker for the time being until the French President appoints a new prime minister to succeed him.
Although President Macron has bluntly rejected any suggestion of his prime minister to resign from the government, the president who just recently returned from a state visit to Saudi Arabia has firmly shown his support for the embattled prime minister.
The left-wing alliance New Popular Front (NFP), which is the party with the most seats in the parliament, had initially criticized President Macron’s decision to appoint centrist Michel Barnier as prime minister instead of their candidate.
Along with the far-right National Rally (RN), the NFP rejected the Prime Minister’s budget, which proposed €60 billion (£49 billion) in deficit reduction, deeming it unacceptable.
Marine Le Pen, made a direct attack on Michel’s Budget calling it “toxic for the French”.
In his defense the Prime Minister said the decision to vote him out of office would not solve the country’s financial problems, he said, “We have reached a moment of truth, of responsibility, adding that we need to look at the realities of our debt.
He added that “I did not present almost exclusively difficult measures because I wanted to”.
Marine Le Pen, reiterated that there is no going back on the resignation process for the Prime Minister and expressed her stance that it has nothing to do with losing the presidential election to President Macron and, neither does the resignation of the Prime Minister affect the presidency of Macron.