A year after the president's failed gamble - with elections that resulted in a paralyzed parliament - the political crisis there is worsening: the third prime minister since, François Bayrou, initiated a vote of confidence to push the opposition to support the cuts, but failed and was ousted. Macron, a"lame duck" on domestic issues whose support has fallen to an all-time low, hopes to leave a legacy on foreign affairs - and will recognize a Palestinian state this month. He refuses to bring forward the elections in France, and is considering appointing a new prime minister from the left. A mass protest is planned for Wednesday:"Silence everything"

Ynet and the agencies|

The lower house of the parliament of

France

The National Assembly ousted the Prime Minister this evening (Monday)

Francois Bayrou

, in a vote of no confidence that constitutes a severe political blow to the president

Emmanuel Macron

– a blow that further deepens the political chaos in the European powerhouse. In the vote, 364 lawmakers expressed no confidence in Bayrou, and only 194 supported him. Bayrou is Macron’s third prime minister since his failed gamble a year ago, in which he brought forward elections for the National Assembly but

He suffered discrimination in them.

, and now the pressure is expected to increase for early parliamentary elections and also for Macron's resignation. Meanwhile, on the ground, the frustration of the French, whose economy is faltering and suffers from huge debts, is bubbling, and tonight's political drama comes just before the mass demonstrations planned for this Wednesday.

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Macron. His gamble failed, and France has been in a political limbo ever since (Photo: REUTERS/Sarah Meyssonnier)

Prime Minister Bayrou, in his speech tonight at the National Assembly."You can overthrow the government, but you can't escape reality" (Photo: Bertrand GUAY / AFP)

The political crisis in France, we will recall, began following Macron's decision in June 2024 to bring forward the elections for the National Assembly – in the hope that this would strengthen the centrist bloc that supports him – after the blow he suffered in

Elections earlier last year for the European Union Parliament

, in which Marine Le Pen's far-right party, the"National Union", gained strength. However, in the elections for the National Assembly, the factions supporting Macron only weakened, and for the first time in decades

No political bloc achieved an absolute majority there.

.

Since then, Macron has relied on minority governments – in the 577-seat National Assembly, only 210 of them are officially controlled by the coalition factions, and the number of supporters of Béréau this evening was, as mentioned, even lower. All recent prime ministers have had great difficulty leading initiatives on domestic issues, especially regarding urgent reforms needed to restore the French economy, the second largest in the European Union, which is dealing with a massive public debt of 3.3 trillion euros, an amount equivalent to 114% of GDP. The annual deficit in France is almost 6%, double the European Union target.

74-year-old François Bayrou was appointed Prime Minister by Macron less than nine months ago, after his predecessor,

Michel Barnier, also ousted in a vote of no confidence

After just three months – the shortest tenure of any prime minister in France’s modern Fifth Republic. Labrinier preceded

Gabriel Attal

, who resigned after eight months as prime minister. Bayrou is actually the fourth prime minister in Macron's second term, which began in 2022 and is due to end in 2027, and the sixth overall since the president was first elected in 2017.

No bloc has a majority. The National Assembly, tonight (Photo: REUTERS/Benoit Tessier)

Bayrou is a very veteran politician from the center camp, and Macron hoped that his extensive experience would allow him to better maneuver between the various factions and gain enough support from opposition lawmakers to advance various initiatives, but he too had difficulty finding a solution to the political impasse, and he initiated tonight's vote of confidence himself after the opposition rejected his initiative for extensive cuts, amounting to 44 billion euros, in the 2026 budget. He proposed additional austerity measures, including the cancellation of two days off for the French.

Bayrou had hoped that the vote of confidence would shake up the opposition factions and force some of them to support his austerity budget, but the far-right and far-left blocs, which together hold 320 seats in the National Assembly (i.e., a majority), quickly announced that they would support his ouster – hoping that this would increase pressure to bring the election forward. Macron is not required to do so under the constitution, and it is estimated that he will appoint a new prime minister, although he too will face the same political paralysis. Until a new prime minister is appointed, Bayrou will continue to serve as caretaker prime minister, and Macron can bide his time until a replacement is chosen. The Elysee Palace announced this evening that he has no intention of doing so, and that he will appoint a new prime minister “in the coming days.”

Macron tries to "shape the world" and demands: "Be responsible, we need stability"

In his speech to lawmakers this evening, before the vote, Bayrou explained that he initiated this vote as a"truth test" in order to present to the French the urgent need to address the economic crisis, despite the dangerous political stakes."You have the power to overthrow the government, but you do not have the power to escape reality. Reality will continue to be uncompromising: expenses will continue to grow, and the burden of public debt, which is already unbearable, will become heavier and more expensive," Bayrou said in his speech, in which he called on lawmakers to act according to their conscience and not according to political considerations.

“The essential question, which is a question of life and death, and on which our very survival depends – is the question of whether government spending can be controlled,” added Bayrou, warning of a scenario in which the French would be forced to deal with the country’s huge debts for many years. He said that “surrender to debt” was like “surrender to military force,” and noted that France desperately needed unity: “Division threatens the image of France and its reputation.” Following the vote of no confidence in him, Bayrou announced that he would formally submit his resignation to the president tomorrow morning, as required by the constitution.

Macron, 47, is now rejecting calls for his own resignation, having promised to complete his term in office by 2027 (he is constitutionally barred from running for a third consecutive term), but the political blow is likely to reinforce his image as a “lame duck” – at least on domestic issues. Polls show that he is deeply unpopular: according to a recent survey in the newspaper Le Figaro, 64% of French people would prefer Macron to resign rather than appoint a new prime minister, and 77% of them express dissatisfaction with the president’s performance, an all-time low for him.

The simmering frustration is expected to erupt during a day of protest planned for Wednesday, under the slogan Bloquons tout ("Let's block everything"). This is an initiative that grew on social media and unites opposing political camps in a call to paralyze France with protests and demonstrations of civil disobedience, from blocking trains to not paying in stores. French officials told AFP that the authorities are preparing for widespread protests, particularly in Paris:"It's not going to be pretty," said a police official. An intelligence source noted that this is a"widespread, leaderless" protest movement, and that the frustration is widespread:"It's with everyone, from villages to big cities."

In the shadow of the political impasse,

Macron has been devoting most of his efforts in recent months to foreign affairs.

, hoping to leave a historical legacy at least in this area: he is among the European leaders who are now leading the establishment of

"Power of Peace"

who will be stationed in Ukraine in a ceasefire scenario in the war with Russia, and at the same time he leads the

The international initiative to recognize a Palestinian state

At the UN General Assembly later this month. On Thursday last week, Macron called on the political forces in his country to demonstrate"responsibility" and maintain internal stability, so as not to disrupt his political moves:"The reshaping of the world affects many things for us in Europe. In this context, France must move forward."

National Union leader Marine Le Pen. Both the far right and the far left are calling for early elections (Photo: Bertrand GUAY / AFP)

Macron's last four prime ministers have been center-right, and now many in France are wondering whether the next prime minister he appoints will come from the center-left. A source close to Macron told Reuters that a"deal" between Macron and the Socialist Party is one of the options currently being considered. The party's president, Boris Vallou, said this evening, even before the vote in which Bayrou was ousted, that the Socialists were ready to lead a minority government for Macron."We are ready if he comes looking for us," he said.

Le Pen wants elections: "This is the end of the nightmare of the ghost government"

Either way, the next prime minister will probably also be required to garner support for initiatives he seeks to promote, either from the extreme left led by

Jean-Luc Mélenchon

, or from the extreme right led by

Marine Le Pen

And her ward

Jordan Bardella

Le Pen, whose National Union party is currently leading in the polls, said in a speech to the National Assembly before the vote that she was ending the current “nightmare of the ghost government.” She won applause from her party members when she blamed both the moderate right and the left for France’s “collapse,” citing the

The cooperation between these currents before the elections last year

– a collaboration that succeeded in preventing the "National Union" from winning the majority that the polls predicted for the party at the time. Le Pen said that if Macron chooses to appoint another prime minister instead of bringing the elections forward, he too will not be able to pass a budget."This choice will mark the institutional stagnation of the country," she said,"Change cannot wait any longer."

Le Pen, let us recall,

Convicted earlier this year in a corruption case

, and the sentence banned her from participating in elections for five years – but she is appealing this ruling, and just today it was decided that the retrial will begin in January. Her protégé Bardella, whom Le Pen has already appointed as the chairman of the National Union party in her place, is the party's candidate for prime minister – but if the ban on Le Pen running in the 2027 presidential election stands, he is very likely to run for this position in her place. Bardella enjoys great popularity, and a BBC correspondent who accompanied him to a fair in northeastern France last week described the tremendous enthusiasm there around him, with hundreds shouting"Jourdan! Jourdan!" when the young politician – only 29 years old – arrived at the scene.

Jourdan Bardella, Le Pen's protégé."A good guy, you can have a drink with him in the pub" (Photo: AP Photo/Lewis Joly)

"He seems like a good guy. Someone you could have a drink with in a pub," said a 44-year-old computer programmer named Christian Magry."France is in trouble. We pay too many taxes, and we don't understand where they're going. Prices are just going up," he added, emphasizing that the immigration issue is also important to him:"Berdella is going to change our country from end to end. I'm not really a racist, but I feel that there are too many people in France waiting for housing, and we can't accept all the poor people in the world." At the same fair, Berdella himself told the BBC that he was working to bring the election forward:"Our country has been at an impasse for more than a year. It's dangerous for France to drift like this and let those who have been in power for decades destroy it." He promised that if the party wins, it will promote a referendum to stop"mass immigration."