France Govt collapses as PM Michel Barnier ousted by no-confidence motion by opposition lawmakers

Dec 05, 2024

Paris (France) December 05 (ANI): French PM Michel Barnier was ousted by a vote of no-confidence by opposition lawmakers in the National Assembly. The lawmakers passed no-confidence vote against French Govt on Dec 04, throwing EU’s 2nd-biggest economic power deeper into crisis. Far-right and left-wing lawmakers joined forces to back a no-confidence motion against PM Barnier with majority 331 votes in support of motion. Michel Barnier now has to tender his resignation and that of his Govt to Prez Emmanuel Macron. Notably, this marks his minority Govt’s 3-month tenure the shortest lived in France's Fifth Republic beginning in 1958. President Macron had appointed Barnier, EU’s former Brexit negotiator, as his new Prime Minister in September. The hard left & far right punished Barnier for using special constitutional powers to adopt part of unpopular budget without a final vote in parliament. The draft budget had sought 60 billion euros ($63.07 billion) in savings in drive to shrink a gaping deficit. No French government had lost a confidence vote since Georges Pompidou's in 1962. Macron ushered in the crisis by calling a snap election in June that delivered a polarised Parliament. France now risks ending the year without a stable government or a 2025 budget. However, the constitution allows special measures that would avert a US-style government shutdown.