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French President Emmanuel Macron has vowed that he will not resign no matter the result of Wednesday’s no confidence vote in Prime Minister Michel Barnier, which is likely to collapse the second Macronist government this year.
Speaking from the sidelines on his trip to Saudi Arabia, during which France has descended into outright political chaos, President Macron reaffirmed his plans to serve out the remainder of his second term, which is planned to run until April of 2027.
In his first comments since the planned no confidence vote in his prime minister was announced, President Macron said per Le Figaro: “I was elected twice by the French people. I am extremely proud of it and I will honor this trust with all the energy that is mine until the last second to be useful to the country.”
Macron was forced into making the comments while abroad as his government in Paris faces likely ousting on Wednesday as his longtime rival, Marine Le Pen and her populist National Rally party announced this week that it would join a vote of no confidence launched by the leftist New Popular Front (NFP) to take down the government of recently installed Prime Minister Michel Barnier.
Barnier, the former EU Brexit negotiator, was installed as PM in September by Macron following his disastrous decision to call for snap legislative elections in July after being trounced in the EU Parliament elections by Le Pen’s National Rally in June. The move left the National Assembly in an effective three-way split between the leftist NFP, centrists largely loyal to Macron from whom Barnier was plucked, and Le Pen’s National Rally.
While pitched as a steady hand to navigate the divided country as it faces massive budgetary issues, Barnier failed to come to an agreement on the budget with Le Pen, upon whose support the government relied. Support from the National Rally ultimately evaporated on Monday as Barnier said that he would use a constitutional loophole, article 49.3, to pass through a measure to halt increases to social security payments in line with inflation, a move Le Pen and her allies branded as punishing seniors for the fiscal failures of Macron.
Thus, the National Rally announced that it would back a no confidence vote launched by the leftist NFP scheduled for Wednesday, all but assuring that Barnier’s government would be forced out, likely marking the first time that the National Assembly used the power to oust a government since 1962 as the combined forces of the two factions easily surpasses the 289 votes needed to take down Barnier.
Should Barnier’s government be overthrown, President Macron will be tasked with either re-instating Barnier or attempt to find someone else willing to take what is increasingly being seen as a poison chalice position.
Under the French constitution, Macron is prevented from calling for new legislative elections until next spring, meaning that unless he resigns from the presidency, any government will face a three-way divide in the parliament.
Speaking from Riyadh on Tuesday evening, Macron accused the National Rally of “unbearable cynicism” in siding with the NFP on the censure vote. Just a few months ago, Macron faced similar accusations after he made a last minute election pact with the leftist bloc after it appeared the National Rally was on course to win the legislative elections and take control of the National Assembly and likely the government itself.
According to a source speaking to Le Figaro present in Barnier’s war room on Monday, the Prime Minister is alleged to have said that he didn’t believe Le Pen would “dare” to join onto a no confidence measure. This turned out to be a drastic miscalculation from the 73-year-old veteran politico.
On Monday, Le Pen said: “Our red lines have been communicated to the government for many weeks. I had already stated them in response to the Prime Minister’s general policy speech. They knew perfectly well what was unacceptable to us.”
