France’s parliament on Monday (September 8, 2025) ousted the government of Prime Minister Francois Bayrou after just nine months in office, leaving President Emmanuel Macron scrambling to find a successor and plunging the country into a new political crisis.

Mr. Bayrou, who has been in the job for just nine months, had blindsided even his allies by calling a confidence vote to end a lengthy standoff over his austerity budget, which foresees almost €44 billion ($52 billion) of cost savings to reduce France’s debt pile.

Mr. Bayrou, the first premier in the history of modern France to be ousted in a confidence vote rather than a no-confidence vote, will submit his resignation on Tuesday (September 9, 2025) morning, according to a person close to him who asked not to be named.

In the vote in the National Assembly, 364 deputies voted that they had no confidence in the government, while just 194 gave it their confidence. “In line with Article 50 of the constitution, the Prime Minister must submit the resignation of his government,” said speaker Yael Braun-Pivet.

Mr. Bayrou is the sixth Prime Minister under Mr. Macron since his 2017 election but the fifth since 2022. Mr. Bayrou’s ousting leaves the French head of state with a new domestic headache at a time when he is leading diplomatic efforts on the Ukraine war.

But defending his decision to call the high-risk confidence vote, Mr. Bayrou told the National Assembly, “The biggest risk was not to take one, to let things continue without anything changing… and have business as usual.”

Describing the debt pile as “life-threatening” for France, Mr. Bayrou said his government had put forward a plan so that the country could “in a few years’ time escape the inexorable tide of debt that is submerging it”.

“You have the power to overthrow the government”, but not “to erase reality”, Mr. Bayrou told the MPs in a doomed final bid to save his government before the vote.

Unpopular president

Mr. Macron now faces one of the most critical decisions of his presidency — appoint a seventh Prime Minister to try to thrash out a compromise, or call snap elections in a bid to have a more accommodating parliament.

There is no guarantee an election would result in any improvement in the fortunes of Mr. Macron’s centre-right bloc in parliament.

And although the Socialist Party (PS) has expressed readiness to lead a new government, it is far from clear whether such an administration could survive.

Heavyweight right-wing cabinet ministers, such as Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin, are trusted by Mr. Macron but risk being voted out by the left.

According to a poll by Odoxa-Backbone for Le Figaro newspaper, 64% of the French want Mr. Macron to resign rather than name a new Prime Minister, a move he has ruled out.

He is forbidden from standing for a third term in 2027.

Around 77% of people do not approve of his work, Mr. Macron’s worst-ever such rating, according to an Ifop poll for the Ouest-France daily.

Le Pen ruling

Alongside political upheaval, France is also facing social tensions.

A left-wing collective named “Block Everything” is calling for a day of action on Wednesday (September 10, 2025), and trade unions have urged workers to strike on September 18.

The 2027 presidential election meanwhile remains wide open, with analysts predicting the French far right will have its best-ever chance of winning.

Three-time presidential candidate for the National Rally (RN) Marine Le Pen suffered a blow in March when a French court convicted her and other party officials over an EU parliament fake jobs scam.

Ms. Le Pen was sentenced to four years’ imprisonment, two of which were suspended, and a fine of €100,000 ($117,000).

The ruling also banned her from standing for office for five years, which would scupper her ambition of taking part in the 2027 vote unless overturned on appeal.

But a Paris court said Monday (September 8, 2025) her appeal would be heard from January 13 to February 12, 2026, well before the election — potentially resurrecting her presidential hopes.

Cheered by her MPs, Ms. Le Pen urged Mr. Macron to call snap legislative elections, saying holding the polls is “not an option but an obligation” and describing Mr. Bayrou’s administration as a “phantom government”.

Published – September 08, 2025 11:37 pm IST

French Prime Minister Michel Barnier arrives to deliver a speech during a debate on two motions of no-confidence against the French government at the National Assembly in Paris, on December 4, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

France’s current crisis is the second in only six months when French president Emmanuel Macron called a snap election in July to reiterate his government’s strength. However, the move backfired. Ensemble, the alliance that his party headed, won fewer seats than the previous election. The two other main alliances – left alliance New Popular Front and right alliance National Rally – increased their seat tally, with the NPF winning the most seats.

This resulted in a hung parliament, where no party wins a majority of 289 or more seats in the 577-seat Assembly.

Hung Parliament

The results cast uncertainty about the country’s political future. Credit rating agency S&P said in a post-election note that it anticipated a “struggle to implement meaningful policy measures” and “a persistent risk of a vote of no-confidence”, according to Reuters. A hung parliament makes it harder to pass legislation, since decisions have to pass through a broader consensus.

Mr. Macron’s immediate concern after the election was the selection of a Prime Ministerial candidate. In the case of no majority party, this process becomes more complicated.

Selecting the Prime Minister

Since no party won a majority, Mr. Macron had to find a candidate who can withstand no-confidence motions in the future by garnering enough support. After negotiations across the board with both left and right parties, Mr. Macron appointed Michel Barnier, a moderate right-wing politician, as Prime Minister with tentative support from National Rally amidst protest from the NFP alliance. It accused Mr. Macron of “stealing” the elections by ignoring the “will of the people.” ‘

However, even within the left alliance, it was difficult to arrive at a consensus candidate. The transition took more than a month, the longest in several decades.

The process begins again, with Macron having to build support a second time from different parties.

France’s finances

The country’s bleak finances are at the centre of what triggered the no-confidence motion. One economic indicator is budget deficits, which have been over the European Union’s limit of 3% of GDP ever since the pandemic. The EU said in a Council Decision note in July that France’s deficit was excessive because projections showed it was not temporary, and it was not the result of “an unusual event nor from a severe economic downturn” like the pandemic.

Besides fiscal deficit, public debt (as % of GDP) is another measure that overshoots the EU target of 60%.

In this context, Mr. Barnier proposed a budget that would cut €60 billion in spending and increase taxes in a bid to tackle the country’s deficit problem. National Rally leader Le Pen had warned in November that she would oppose any budget that did not address cost-of-living concerns. Increasing tax burden on households, entrepreneurs or pensioners was also opposed. Notably, toppling the government would help her evade looming prosecution for embezzling EU funds.

Moreover, Mr. Barnier pushed the budget without taking it through a parliamentary vote after he could not win the support of National Rally lawmakers. In response, the party’s leader Marine Le Pen voted in support of the no-confidence motion moved by the left parties.

Now that MR. Barnier is set to resign, provisions from this year’s budget will apply next year until a new budget is formulated. However, the timeline for that remains murky in the aftermath of Mr. Barnier’s ouster.

(With inputs from AP and Reuters)