French government collapses as parliament ousts second PM in nine months

LAST UPDATE | 19 hrs ago

THE FRENCH GOVERNMENT has collapsed after the country’s parliament voted to oust Prime Minister Francois Bayrou after just nine months in office.

The move plunges the country into a new political crisis and leaves President Emmanuel Macron scrambling to find a successor. 

Bayrou, who has been in the job for just nine months, had blindsided even his allies by calling a confidence vote to end a lengthy standoff over his austerity budget, which foresees almost €44 billion of cost savings to reduce France’s debt pile.

In the vote in the National Assembly, 364 deputies voted that they had no confidence in the government while just 194 gave it their confidence. “In line with article 50 of the constitution, the prime minister must submit the resignation of his government,” said speaker Yael Braun-Pivet.

It makes Bayrou the first prime minister in the history of modern France to be ousted in a confidence vote rather than a no-confidence vote.

In a statement, the Élysée Palace said that Macron “takes note” of the outcome and said he would name a new prime minister “in the next few days”, ending any remaining speculation that the president could instead call snap elections.

Macron will meet Bayrou tomorrow “to accept the resignation of his government”, it added.

Bayrou is the sixth prime minister under Macron since his 2017 election but the fifth since 2022. His ousting leaves the French head of state with a new domestic headache at a time when he is leading diplomatic efforts on the Ukraine war.

But defending his decision to call the high-risk confidence vote, Bayrou told the National Assembly: “The biggest risk was not to take one, to let things continue without anything changing… and have business as usual.”

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Describing the debt pile as “life-threatening” for France, Bayrou said his government had put forward a plan so that the country could “in a few years’ time escape the inexorable tide of debt that is submerging it”.

“You have the power to overthrow the government” but not “to erase reality”, Bayrou told the MPs in a doomed final bid to save his government before the vote.

Unpopular president

Macron now faces one of the most critical decisions of his presidency – appoint a seventh prime minister to try to thrash out a compromise, or call snap elections in a bid to have a more accommodating parliament.

There is no guarantee an election would result in any improvement in the fortunes of Macron’s centre-right bloc in parliament.

Although the Socialist Party (PS) has expressed readiness to lead a new government, it is far from clear whether such an administration could survive.

Heavyweight right-wing cabinet ministers, such as Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin, are trusted by Macron but risk being voted out by the left.

According to a poll by Odoxa-Backbone for Le Figaro newspaper, 64% of the French want Macron to resign rather than name a new prime minister, a move he has ruled out.

He is forbidden from standing for a third term in 2027.

Around 77% of people do not approve of his work, Macron’s worst-ever such rating, according to an Ifop poll for the Ouest-France daily.

Le Pen ruling

Alongside political upheaval, France is also facing social tensions.

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A left-wing collective named “Block Everything” is calling for a day of action on Wednesday, and trade unions have urged workers to strike on 18 September.

Meanwhile, the 2027 presidential election remains wide open, with analysts predicting the French far right will have its best-ever chance of winning.

Three-time presidential candidate for the National Rally (RN) Marine Le Pen suffered a blow in March when a French court convicted her and other party officials over an EU parliament fake jobs scam.

Le Pen was sentenced to four years’ imprisonment, two of which were suspended, and a fine of €100,000.

The ruling also banned her from standing for office for five years, which would scupper her ambition of taking part in the 2027 vote unless overturned on appeal.

But today, a Paris court said her appeal would be heard from 13 January to 12 February 2026, well before the election – potentially resurrecting her presidential hopes.

Cheered by her MPs, Le Pen urged Macron to call snap legislative elections, saying holding the polls is “not an option but an obligation” and describing Bayrou’s administration as a “phantom government”.

With reporting from Jane Moore