PARIS — French lawmakers toppled Prime Minister François Bayrou’s minority government on Monday evening, thrusting the country deeper into a political crisis that will force President Emmanuel Macron to name a fifth premier in less than two years.
Three hundred and sixty four lawmakers voted to oust Bayrou over his plans to slash the French budget by €43.8 billion, while 194 supported him.
Macron’s office said that he would meet with Bayrou to accept his resignation Tuesday and name his replacement “in the next few days.” The Elysée Palace has not yet said when Macron will make a public address.
But Macron has limited options to steer France out of this crisis. He is reportedly leaning toward appointing another prime minister — the fifth since January 2024 — but a new premier would face the same intractable parliament. So too would a technical government made up of civil servants.
Another snap election looks unappetizing, though, as it could easily deliver another hung parliament.
In an extreme scenario, Macron could even resign, but that’s highly unlikely given his past statements.
Financial markets will be watching closely whatever happens next given concerns that France has become too ungovernable to rein in its eye-watering budget deficit — expected to come in at 5.4 percent of gross domestic product this year — or its €3.3 trillion mountain of debt.
Bayrou had proposed a bitter cocktail of measures to balance the books, including eliminating two paid public holidays, that most lawmakers were so opposed to that they were willing to torpedo the government.
Several contenders have been floated in the French media to replace Bayrou, including Armed Forces Minister Sébastien Lecornu, Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin and Economy Minister Eric Lombard.
Macron last week pushed the parties who supported Bayrou’s minority government to find a way to work with the Socialist Party, fueling speculation that the next government could be supported by a grand coalition spanning from the center left to the center right.
However, the yawning ideological gap between the Socialists and the conservative Les Républicains, which backed Bayrou, may end up being too big for the parties to find enough common ground to both join a government. But neither is keen to see another government fall or head back to the polls for new legislative elections.
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