Government crisis in France: Prime Minister Barnier overthrown

Michel Barnier is known to the French as a proud man and a formidable mediator. The 73-year-old Savoyardeer was often a minister in his long political career. And for Brussels he negotiated the implementation of Brexit, not exactly a walk in the park. But his most recent role, that of Prime Minister of his country, which was also his most important role to date, was ultimately simply objectively too difficult. A “mission impossible”.

On Wednesday, a majority in parliament toppled Barnier and his minority government of centrists and conservative Republicans after just three months in office. His opponents from the left and the far right voted together for a motion of no confidence from the radical left La France Insoumise – 331 in total, a clear vote. 288 were needed.

He accused Le Pen of making a pact with the left

Barnier fought until the end. On Tuesday evening he invited the news presenters from TF1 and France 2 to his office at his official residence, the Hôtel de Matignon, as French presidents do at important moments. It was a committed and, by Barnier’s standards, even passionate performance. He once again appealed to his opponents to think about the “greater good of the nation” and that the situation was “difficult, serious.”

But since he naturally suspected that this last offensive would fizzle out, he attacked them too. Marine Le Pen From the extreme right-wing Rassemblement National, which had passively supported him in recent months and was now breaking with him, he shouted that their voters did not understand that they voted with the “extreme left”. And he accused the left of the same thing.

A “ball of egos”

But Barnier’s main concern was to emerge from this far too brief experience with his head held high. No prime minister of the Fifth Republic, i.e. since 1958, has been in office for less time than him. He is also the first prime minister since Georges Pompidou in 1962 to be ousted by parliament. The French were to learn from Barnier’s last major appearance that he had fallen victim to a “ball of egos” and that politicians had still not learned to make compromises. “The people are much more sensible than certain politicians.”

He said he would like to continue to serve the country. But if it shouldn’t be anymore, then that’s okay too. He doesn’t care about gold plating, privileges and company cars. Then his wounded pride came through again.

Ostensibly, the opposition was concerned with Barnier’s austerity budget for 2025. 60 billion euros should be saved in order to reduce the high national deficit. At more than six percent of gross domestic product, the deficit is particularly high this year. The French national debt, as Barnier repeatedly warned during the debate, amounts to 3,228 billion euros – a record in the country’s history.

Nevertheless, the oppositions called on the Prime Minister to abandon planned taxes and reverse cost cuts. Marine Le Pen kept insisting on new concessions until Barnier broke off the dialogue in exasperation.

How can the blockage be solved?

However, behind the scenes, Le Pen and Jean-Luc Mélenchon, head of France Insoumise, have a completely different goal. The political chaos can’t be big enough for both of them. you hope Emmanuel Macron Contrary to all previous statements, I eventually came to the conclusion that only his resignation as president could solve the political deadlock.

So far, Macron has been determined to continue until the end of his second and final term in office, i.e. until 2027. These days he described alternative mind games as “political fiction”. «I was elected twice by the French people. That makes me extremely proud, I will live up to this trust with all my energy until the last second.”

The French press learned from Macron’s entourage that the president is already looking for profiles for the office of a new prime minister. Theoretically, he could give Barnier a new government contract, but that is not very likely. The option that Macron could appoint a non-party, technocratic prime minister also seems rather unlikely: so far there is a lack of suitable names for such a role.

Possible successors to Barnier

Possible successors to Barnier from the minority coalition include: the centrist François Bayrou; the Macronist and former Defense Minister Sébastien Lecornu; the Republican and former Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau; and François Baroin, a former economy and finance minister under former President Nicolas Sarkozy.

It would also be possible that the Social Democrat Bernard Cazeneuve would come back into the conversation: Cazeneuve was already Prime Minister once. But since he has now left the Parti Socialiste, not everyone on the left likes him. As long as Macron is looking, Barnier will continue to run the business. But everyone agrees that the vacuum shouldn’t last very long this time. It took the president two months to nominate Barnier in the summer.

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