Berlin/Paris – Mega-bang in France! The minority government of Prime Minister François Bayrou has fallen. Bayrou lost the vote of confidence in the French National Assembly by a landslide – 364 MPs voted against him, only 194 for him. Now he must submit his resignation to President Emmanuel Macron. Perhaps as early as this evening. This is also a bitter blow for Macron.

Bayrou had tied the vote to drastic austerity measures: He wanted to save almost €44 billion next year to offset the budget deficit. He even proposed eliminating two public holidays. This met with widespread public opposition.

▶︎ After the expected resignation of his prime minister, Macron must quickly find a new one. But neither his centrist camp nor the left-wing alliance nor Marine Le Pen's right-wing populists have a majority in the National Assembly. One option would be new elections. But it is unclear whether the French would vote differently after just one year.

Macron would also have to risk Le Pen or the left-wing coalition gaining an absolute majority – in which case he would be forced to appoint a prime minister from their ranks. Political chaos would be complete. The left, however, wants to oust Macron and force an early presidential election. Le Pen's camp is also pushing for elections or Macron's resignation.

The second prime minister failed

For the second time in just over a year, a prime minister has failed due to the politically unstable situation. Before Bayrou, Michel Barnier (74) threw in the towel after only three months in office.

The problem: France is heavily indebted and urgently needs to pass an austerity budget for 2026. If this fails, there is a risk of a loss of confidence in the markets – which would place an additional strain on the country's finances.