The centrist government of French Prime Minister François Bayrou has fallen after less than nine months in power. The National Assembly voted by a large majority to reject a motion of confidence on Tuesday, with 194 votes in favor and 364 against.
Bayrou is scheduled to present his resignation to President Emmanuel Macron at the Élysée Palace on Wednesday morning. The margin of defeat was significantly wider than anticipated, with only 194 of the 220 votes expected from the ruling coalition’s MPs materializing. Opposition parties from the entire left and the far-right voted cohesively against the government.
President Macron’s office stated he “takes note” of the government’s collapse and will appoint a successor “in the coming days.”
In a speech to the Assembly preceding the vote, a hoarse Prime Minister Bayrou, speaking over a loud backdrop of murmuring, defended his decision to call the confidence vote. “I wanted this test,” he stated. “The biggest risk would have been not to take risks.” He argued that reducing France’s colossal national debt was a “question of vital urgency,” warning that the “submission to debt is like submission to military force: subdued by weapons or by creditors, in both cases we lose our freedom.”
Bayrou outlined a plan to return the budget deficit to 3% of GDP by 2029, citing alarming debt figures. He noted that annual debt servicing costs have skyrocketed from €30 billion in 2020 to €67 billion this year and are projected to reach €107 billion by the end of the decade.
He listed a litany of problems holding France back, from a decline in production since 2000 and an education system failing its youth to a housing crisis and territorial inequalities, concluding that “France is a magnificent cathedral to be rebuilt.” His speech also included attacks on opposition narratives, criticizing the right for blaming immigrants and the left for wanting to “make the rich pay.”
As he concluded his 45-minute address, Bayrou declared to heckles and applause, “You can bring down the government, but you cannot erase reality.”
Opposition leaders were swift to react. Marine Le Pen of the far-right National Rally (RN) said dissolving the National Assembly is “not an option, but an obligation” for Macron. Jean-Luc Mélenchon of the hard-left France Unbowed (LFI) hailed the fall as a “popular victory and relief” and called for Macron himself to resign. Socialist Party deputy Boris Vallaud, stating his party was “ready to govern,” said their vote against the government affirmed a different path for France, rejecting “resignation.”