French government in crisis after vote to oust PM

London: An outcry over an “austerity” budget has thrown the French government into crisis after the national assembly voted the prime minister out of office with no obvious successor and no coalition with a clear majority to restore stability.

French President Emmanuel Macron will be forced to appoint a new prime minister within days to counter demands for his resignation and national elections, as parties on the left and right manoeuvre to replace him.

The national assembly has dismissed five prime ministers in two years and appears unlikely to agree on Macron’s next choice, signalling more upheaval before the presidential election due in April 2027.

The far-right National Rally, led by Marine Le Pen, has a strong position in the polls despite her conviction for embezzlement and five-year eligibility ban this year – a ruling she is seeking to overturn in court so she can run for president.

Macron’s ally, Prime Minister François Bayrou, insisted he was right to unveil laws to scrap two public holidays to help balance the budget, as part of an unpopular plan to cut €44 billion ($78 billion) in costs over three years.

“You have the power to bring down the government, but you do not have the power to erase reality,” Bayrou told the National Assembly before a confidence vote in his position.

“Reality will remain relentless: expenses will continue to rise, and the burden of debt, already unbearable, will grow heavier and more costly.”

With left and right against him, Bayrou called for the vote of confidence but lost by 364 to 194 on Monday afternoon in Paris, about 2am on Tuesday AEST.

“We regret that we cannot trust you,” Socialist Party lawmaker Boris Vallaud told Bayrou.

Another left-wing member of the assembly, Mathilde Panot of France Unbowed, sought to intensify pressure on Macron even though he has refused to resign.

“The president doesn’t want to change his policy. So we’ll have to change president,” she said.

The French economy has slowed over the past four years, and government spending has increased, putting federal debt on track to reach nearly 120 per cent of GDP next year, according to the OECD.

This puts France close to the United States but behind Japan, where debt was 228 per cent of GDP, and Greece at 180 per cent, in the most recent OECD figures. The same table estimated Australian government debt was 55 per cent of GDP.

Despite the turmoil of recent weeks and the slow-motion plans to remove Bayrou, the major French share market index, the CAC 40, rose slightly on Monday. It has fallen about 6 per cent since February.

Bayrou wanted to cut the country’s budget deficit from 5.8 per cent of GDP last year to 4.6 per cent next year, in the hope of steadily reducing the figure to 3 per cent by 2029.

This required a combination of spending cuts and lower growth in welfare payments, as well as the highly controversial move to cancel two public holidays to lift productivity.

His removal is another sign that Macron has failed to break the impasse in parliament after his risky move last year to call a parliamentary election in the hope of halting the rise of Le Pen and her party.

The National Rally and its allied parties hold 138 seats in the National Assembly, making them the largest bloc, while the Ensemble coalition, loyal to Macron, has only 91 seats. France Unbowed holds 71 seats and the Socialists hold 66, while the Greens have 38.

With no single party dominating the assembly, Macron appears likely to face similar challenges to his next prime minister.

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