French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday, December 5, vowed to name a new prime minister "in the coming days" after the resignation of Michel Barnier, whose government was toppled by a no-confidence vote in Parliament.
In an address to the nation, Macron rejected calls from opponents to resign, saying he would remain president "fully, until the end of the mandate" in 2027 and also lashed out at the French far right and hard left for uniting in an "anti-republican front" to bring down the government.
Macron came out fighting a day after a historic no-confidence vote at the Assemblée Nationale left France without a functioning government. He laid blame at the door of his opponents on the far right for bringing down Barnier's government.
He said he'd name a new prime minister within days but gave no hints who that might be. Earlier in the day, Macron "took note" of Barnier's resignation, the Elysée presidential palace said in a statement. Barnier and other ministers will be "in charge of current affairs until the appointment of a new government," the statement said.
Macron laid blame at the door of his opponents on the far right for bringing down Barnier's government. He said they chose "Not to do but to undo." "They chose disorder," he added. The president said the far right and the far left had united in what he called "an anti-Republican front" and stressed: "I won't shoulder other people's irresponsibility."
The no-confidence motion passed by 331 votes in the Assemblée Nationale, forcing Barnier to step down after just three months in office – the shortest tenure of any prime minister in modern French history.
Macron faces the critical task of naming a replacement capable of leading a minority government in a Parliament where no party holds a majority. Yaël Braun-Pivet, president of the Assemblée Nationale and a member of Macron's party, urged the president to move quickly.
"I recommend he decide rapidly on a new prime minister," Braun-Pivet said Thursday on France Inter radio. "There must not be any political hesitation. We need a leader who can speak to everyone and work to pass a new budget bill."
Macron took more than two months to appoint Barnier after his party's defeat in June's legislative elections. The no-confidence vote has also galvanized opposition leaders, with some explicitly calling for Macron's resignation.
"I believe that stability requires the departure of the President of the Republic," said Manuel Bompard, leader of the far-left La France Insoumise party, on BFM TV Wednesday night.
Far-right Rassemblement National Marine Le Pen, whose party holds the most seats in the Assemblée, stopped short of calling for Macron's resignation but warned that "the pressure on the president of the Republic will get stronger and stronger."
Macron, however, has dismissed such calls and ruled out new legislative elections. The French Constitution does not call for a president to resign after his government was ousted by the Assemblée Nationale.
"I was elected to serve until 2027, and I will fulfill that mandate," he told reporters earlier this week. The Constitution also says that new legislative elections cannot be held until at least July, creating a potential stalemate for policymakers.