French Prime Minister topples his own Government in ‘unorthodox’ move

After only nine months in office, the Government of French Prime Minister François Bayrou has failed to secure a vote of confidence from the lower house, or National Assembly. 

Surprisingly, the vote was called by the Prime Minister himself. 

Senior Lecturer in History at The Australian National University (ANU) and expert in French politics, Dr Romain Fathi, has called it a “courageous, if unorthodox” move.  

“Since the 2024 elections there’s been no clear majority in the National Assembly, meaning no strong majority government can be formed,” Dr Fathi said. 

“France has had three Prime Ministers in less than 12 months. The last time this happened was nearly 70 years ago. 

“Since July, Mr Bayrou has been clear about wanting to reduce government spending by 43.8 billion (euros), but the French people have not been supportive of what they consider to be austerity measures. This has given opposition parties license to start thinking about a vote of no confidence. 

“Mr Bayrou knew they were likely to topple his government sometime in September or October, so he decided to call for a confidence vote himself, knowing full well the numbers were against him.” 

According to Dr Fathi, the most likely scenario is that a new Prime Minister will now be appointed quickly by President Macron. 

“There’s no constitutional timeframe for this, but anywhere from 48 hours to a couple of weeks would be reasonable. Until then, Mr Bayrou will be in caretaker mode,” he said.  

“The incoming Prime Minister will have to form a new majority at the National Assembly to support their government. That will be a very difficult mission because the house will be the same – fragmented. This scenario would result in a weak government that could lose office within months. 

“It’s also a possibility that President Macron could use his constitutional prerogative to dissolve the National Assembly by calling for new general elections in the coming days, or weeks. But this would further weaken his political party.  

“And while seemingly impossible, there’s also a chance the large political parties could negotiate a real government deal, as we’ve seen in other European countries. 

“Regardless of how you look at it, French politics is messy at the moment, and that looks set to continue for some time yet.”