ParisCNN —
French Prime Minister Michel Barnier has been forced to resign just three months into his term, after lawmakers on the left and the right united to support a no-confidence motion and plunge the country into deeper political instability.
A total of 331 out of 577 lawmakers voted against Barnier’s fragile government, seizing their opportunity to topple the veteran politician – and renowned negotiator – after his attempt to ram through part of his government’s annual budget on Monday.
His is the first French government to be defeated in a no-confidence motion since 1962, and Barnier is now set to become France’s shortest-serving prime minister in history.
Barnier’s cabinet is now expected to serve in a caretaker capacity until French President Emmanuel Macron names new leadership. Barnier is set to formally submit his resignation to Macron on Thursday morning, according to French media.
Choosing a successor will prove a delicate task, with the increasingly vulnerable president forced to appease lawmakers on both extremes of French politics.
Macron had appointed Barnier to lead a minority government after a snap election, called by the president in the summer, split France’s parliament into three factions, each well short of a majority.
The situation had immediately appeared untenable, and it collapsed at the first major hurdle on Monday, when Barnier was forced to use a constitutional mechanism that bypassed a vote in the legislature on his 2025 budget.
That allowed rival lawmakers on the left, who had long vowed to bring him down, to call a confidence motion in response, and the far-right National Rally supported the motion to see it through on Wednesday. The far right had also called a similar motion.
Pleading his case during Wednesday’s debate in the National Assembly, Barnier told lawmakers he was “not afraid,” but warned that removing him would make “everything more difficult.”
