Michel Barnier’s government falls three months after he came to power

French Prime Minister Michel Barnier fell victim to a vote of censure on Wednesday, just three months after coming to power, since he was appointed by French President Emmnauel Macron on September 5. So Barnier is too the shortest prime minister since the Second World War.

The New Popular Front has 182 deputies in the French House of Commons, which, added to the 143 seats of Marine Le Pen’s National Group, has served to dethrone the experienced politician, elevated to head of government by Macron, in a complicated political context. chair.

Barnier had so far governed in a minority and, given the difficulty of approving the agreement budgetswhich he resorted to on Monday Article 49.3 of the French Constitutionwhich considers the possibility of passing laws by avoiding the parliamentary vote in exchange for having to submit to a motion of censure.

The New Popular Front (NFP) and National Rally have raised a cry in the National Assembly against Prime Minister Michel Barnier in the debate on the censure motion that has put an end to what the far-right leader Marine Le Pen has described as a ‘short-lived government’.

Three months after being sworn in as Prime Minister, Barnier is nearing the end due to the lack of consensus on the budget. “Today we are making history”the deputy said from the lectern Erik Coquerelmember of La Francia Insumisa and speaker of an exciting session.

Coquerel has reiterated that the current government is based on a “insult” to voters that in the last parliamentary elections they placed the left as the bloc with the most seats in the National Assembly, although no party or political family alone has a sufficient majority.

For her part, Le Pen has criticized Barnier for his ‘sectarianism’ and ‘dogmatism’in a fiery speech in which he assured that the government and the president, Emmanuel Macron, have drafted public bills that punish the middle and working classes, including with tax increases.

The French Prime Minister, Michel Barnierhas assured that France “will continue a difficult reality from an economic point of view “that will not go away with a motion of censure,” as he said in the National Assembly shortly before his resignation was adopted.

In a striking farewell tone, even saying goodbye to the Assembly staff despite the fact that there were still a few minutes left before the start of voting, Barnier made a final call for “responsibility” and warned of the dangers posed by country could produce. faced in the event that the government falls.

Barnier became head of the government after two months of political deadlock and renewed talks at the Elysée, until the President opted for the profile of the experienced former Brexit negotiator as the only way to reconcile the three political families that sit almost equally in the Assembly emerging from the parliamentary elections of last year emerged July.

Rejected by the left from the first momentwhich claimed the position for one of its own blocs because it had more deputies than the other two blocs, the moderate conservative received the vigilant support of Le Pen, who, however, did not pass the test of the first major budget text.

Lecornu, Bayrou or Retailleau, candidates to succeed him

Among the names that will be downgraded to succeed Barnier in office, the one that resonates loudest is that of the current Defense Minister, Sébastian Lecornu, the only one to have been in government since Macron joined the Elysée in 2017. .

He is loyal among the president’s faithful and adds the advantage of having a certain positive view of Le Pen, which could serve to achieve the agreements that Barnier was unable to achieve.

The same as the veteran centrist François Bayrou, one of the other candidates for the position, which would mark the culmination of a long political career in which he has been minister and candidate for the Elysee several times.

He shares with Le Pen his accusation in a case of illegal financing of parties with money from the European Parliament, of which he was acquitted due to lack of evidence, and the fact of being in favor of a more representative electoral system.

Another option is to bet on the current Minister of the Interior, Bruno Retailleau, representative of the hardest and most conservative wing of the traditional right, who shares ideas with Le Pen on immigration and security issues.