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Rabat – François Bayrou was removed today from his post as French prime minister, after losing a confidence vote in the National Assembly.
The motion passed by 364 votes to 194, with opposition parties joining forces against him.
Sources close to Bayrou told AFP that he will submit his resignation to President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday, while the Elysée confirmed that Macron will name a new prime minister “in the next few days.”
In office for only nine months, Bayrou took the risky step of calling a confidence vote to end the political deadlock over his austerity budget.
His July plan proposed €44 billion in spending cuts over three years, including reductions to pensions and healthcare. The proposals sparked weeks of parliamentary debate and intense public criticism.
Before the vote, Bayrou defended his decision to face Parliament. He warned that avoiding a vote would allow the status quo to continue unchanged.
Describing France’s debt as “life-threatening,” he said his plan could help the country escape “the inexorable tide of debt that is submerging it.” He told MPs that they had the power to remove the government, but not to “erase reality.”
Uncertainty persists in the political air
Bayrou becomes the second French prime minister in a row to fall to a confidence vote, after Michel Barnier lasted only three months. His departure leaves Macron with the difficult choice of appointing a seventh prime minister to negotiate compromises or call snap elections to seek a more cooperative parliament.
Marine Le Pen, far-right leader and three-time presidential candidate, urged Macron to hold elections, calling it “not an option but an obligation” and describing Bayrou’s government as a “phantom.”
Jean-Luc Mélenchon of La France Insoumise wrote on X that Macron must also step down, writing: “Bayrou has fallen. Victory and relief for the people. Macron is now on the front line facing the people. He too must step down.”
Socialist leader Boris Vallaud said his party was ready to lead a government that would offer “a different political path from that of Emmanuel Macron, who has led us into this impasse.”
Yet, uncertainty remains over whether any new administration could survive in Parliament.
Political upheaval comes alongside social tension. A left-wing collective called “Bloquons Tout” (“Let’s Block Everything”) announced a day of action on Wednesday, and trade unions called for strikes on September 18.
