Paris
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French lawmakers voted to leave without government when Prime Minister François Bailloux on Monday, plunging the country into a new political crisis and raising economic and geopolitical tensions.
A total of 364 lawmakers voted against Bayrou and 194 voted for him, when he called for the vote, voting for a 44 billion euro ($51 billion) savings plan to push forward with savings plans that include two public leave and frozen government spending. The 364 votes against Bayrou were well above the 280 vote threshold required to overthrow the government.
Bayrou will be forced to step down in just nine months, following in the footsteps of his predecessor, Michel Barnier, who lost his vote of no confidence last December.
According to Elise Palace, French President Emmanuel Macron will honor the new prime minister in the coming days. However, there are few options Macron has no taste for its departure.
Investors are rattling. The yields on French government bonds, or investors’ demands, exceed the interest rates on bonds in Spain, Portugal and Greece, once at the heart of the eurozone debt crisis. The potential downgrade of France’s sovereign debt rating review on Friday would take another blow to its economic position in Europe.
“You have the power to overthrow the government, but you have no power to erase reality,” Belloo told lawmakers Monday before the vote. “The reality remains unforgiving. Costs continue to rise, and the burden of already unbearable debt will become heavier and more expensive.”
“We’ve broken the social contract,” Bellu added.
Political instability can be traced back to Macron’s own dramatic decision last year to call for a snap election. The French president, who had holed up at the notable outcome of the far-right national rally in the European Parliament elections in May 2024, forced a vote in which his party lost seats on the far right and far left, leaving France with a ruptured parliament.
According to Elise, Belloo is expected to file his resignation with Macron on Tuesday morning.
Military Ministers Sebastian Recorne and Justice Minister Gerald Dalmanin are expected to be one of the frontlines because of what is likely to be the poisoned holy grail.
Even before the vote, Bailou’s prospects for downfall called for him to stop by, although the president vowed to serve his term. The far-right Deuenne Marine Le Pen has called for him to dissolve Parliament, but a new election will almost certainly strengthen her party and further fracture the French Parliament.
The problem with Macron is that after the failure of three central prime ministers, the opposition parties are not in the mood to give another person a chance. Both the far right and far left informed that if another such prime minister is appointed, they would immediately seek a vote of inconfidence. In theory, naming the prime minister from another political camp is an option, but the choice on the right is blocked by the left and vice versa.
For the next prime minister, the budget battle will be just as difficult. Socialists want to tax Rich and roll back Macron’s tax cuts for business. All Redline, Lesli Republicans, longtime Conservatives and coalition key players were covered together after the snap election. The result is that it is unlikely that French fiscal turmoil will be fixed anytime soon.
If another snap parliamentary election occurs, the recent Elabe poll shows a national rally appears above, with the left in second place, with Macron’s centralism in the distant third. Many assume that the far right will ultimately end up in power – if not now, they don’t believe that such outcomes will solve the country’s problems after the 2027 presidential election.
The public’s trust in the political class is broken and anger is set to spread to the streets. The far left sparked nationwide protests on Wednesday.
All of this comes at the worst geopolitical moments, along with raging wars in Ukraine and the Middle East. Paris’ instability is a gift for both Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Donald Trump, sharing a common joy in laughing at European weaknesses.
