French PM submits resignation as Macron to address nation on Thursday evening

Michel Barnier resigned as French prime minister on Thursday, December 5, after losing a no-confidence motion but will remain in office on a caretaker basis with his ministers until a new government is named, the presidency said.

“The prime minister today submitted the resignation of his government” to President Emmanuel Macron, who has “taken note” of the resignation, the Elysée said. Barnier and his ministers remain “in charge of daily business until the appointment of a new government”, it added.

Macron, now looking to appoint a new prime minister, was to meet the presidents of both chambers of Parliament before giving an address to the nation at 8 pm French time.

Limiting any impression of political chaos is all the more important for Macron who on Saturday will host world leaders – including US president-elect Donald Trump – for the reopening of Notre Dame cathedral in Paris after the devastating 2019 fire.

A majority of lawmakers on Wednesday supported the no-confidence vote proposed by the hard left and backed by the far right headed by Marine Le Pen. The vote was the first successful no-confidence action since a defeat for Georges Pompidou’s government in 1962, when Charles de Gaulle was president.

Barnier’s record-quick ejection comes after snap parliamentary elections in June resulted in a hung parliament with no political force able to form an overall majority and the far right holding the key to the government’s survival.

The trigger for Barnier’s ouster was his 2025 budget plan including austerity measures that were unacceptable to a majority in parliament, but that he argued were necessary to stabilize France’s finances. On Monday he forced through a social security financing bill without a vote, but the ousting of the government means France is still without a budget.

President of the Assemblée Nationale Yaël Braun-Pivet urged Macron to quickly choose a new premier, saying that France could not be allowed to “drift” for long.

‘Political fiction’

Macron has more than two years of his presidential term left, but some opponents are calling on him to resign. “We are now calling on Macron to go,” Mathilde Panot, head of the parliamentary faction of the hard-left La France Insoumise (LFI) party, told reporters. She urged “early presidential elections” to solve the political crisis.

Macron has however vehemently rejected such a scenario, calling it “political fiction.”

Taking care not to crow over the government’s fall, Le Pen said in a television interview that, once a new premier is appointed, her party “would let them work” and help create a “budget that is acceptable for everyone.”

Barnier is the fifth prime minister to serve under Macron since he came to power in 2017, with each premier serving a successively shorter period. Given the composition of the Assemblée Nationale, there is no guarantee that Barnier’s successor would last any longer.