France’s parliament voted on Monday to bring down the government over its plans to tame the ballooning national debt, deepening a political crisis and handing President Emmanuel Macron the task of finding a fifth prime minister in fewer than two years.
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Francois Bayrou, 74, took office as prime minister only nine months ago. He will tender his resignation on Tuesday, his office said, leaving Macron to face a narrowing set of options, with financial markets signalling worry at France’s political and fiscal crisis.
Bayrou had called the confidence vote unexpectedly to try to win parliamentary support for his strategy to lower a deficit that stands at nearly double the European Union’s 3 per cent ceiling and to start tackling a debt pile equivalent to 114 per cent of GDP.
But opposition parties were in little mood to rally behind his planned savings of €44 billion (US$51.51 billion) in next year’s budget, with an election for Macron’s successor looming in 2027.
They forced Bayrou out, with 364 votes against him and only 194 backing him.
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“This moment marks the end of the agony of a phantom government,” far-right leader Marine Le Pen said, pushing for a snap parliamentary election, which Macron has so far ruled out.