Published on 04/12/2024 20:45
Updated on 04/12/2024 21:13
Reading time: 3min
Deprived of a majority in the National Assembly, the former European commissioner, overthrown on Wednesday evening, will have spent only two months and 29 days in Matignon.
A little less than three months and then gone. After triggering article 49.3 on the Social Security budget on Monday, Michel Barnier and his government were disavowed on Wednesday December 4 by a majority of deputies in the National Assembly. The motion of censure filed by The New Popular Front was adopted by 331 deputies, or 43 votes more than the absolute majority of 288 votes which was required.
Even if it is not excluded that Michel Barnier will be kept in his post by Emmanuel Macron, this vote forces the Prime Minister to resign. The resigning head of government thus becomes the most short-lived Prime Minister in the history of the Fifth Republic.
Michel Barnier was appointed on September 5, 2024 by Emmanuel Macron. The former European Commissioner, aged 73 and from the Les Républicains party, therefore held the position of Prime Minister for two months and 29 days. This very short duration places him in last position in the ranking of longevity of heads of government of the Fifth Republic. Michel Barnier stayed less long at Matignon than Bernard Cazeneuve (5 months and 9 days) and Gabriel Attal (7 months and 27 days), who remained the last two most ephemeral Prime Ministers.
In contrast, the Prime Ministers who remained in office the longest are Georges Pompidou (6 years, 2 months and 27 days), under the presidency of Charles de Gaulle, and François Fillon (4 years, 11 months and 22 days). ), under Nicolas Sarkozy. Note that Jacques Chirac held this position twice, in two distinct periods, under Valéry Giscard d'Estaing and under François Mitterrand.
Since the election of Emmanuel Macron in 2017, five Prime Ministers have succeeded one another with increasingly brief longevity: Edouard Philippe (3 years, 1 month and 18 days), Jean Castex (1 year, 10 months and 13 days ), Elisabeth Borne (1 year, 7 months and 24 days) and finally Gabriel Attal and Michel Barnier.
His appointment put an end to two months of waiting after the results of the second round of early legislative elections on July 7. The absence of an absolute majority in the National Assembly had made the formation of a government a headache. The longevity of Michel Barnier at Matignon was immediately considered uncertain. The left promised him censorship while the National Rally insisted that he was “under surveillance”.
