Days Ahead of Trump Arrival, the French Government Collapsed Under Weight of Their Own Cheese
President Trump is scheduled to arrive in Paris this weekend. Today, almost in an act of divine providence, the government collapsed.
French Prime Minister Michel Barnier will submit his resignation to French President Emmanuel Macron tomorrow, according to France’s BFMTV. He is expected at the Elysee Palace at 10am local time. Barnier’s resignation is a constitutional obligation after he lost a vote of no-confidence earlier Wednesday evening triggering the collapse of his government.
SUMMARY of EVENTS: •Michel Barnier lost a no-confidence vote, triggering the collapse of govt. •It marks the first time a French government has been toppled in this way in more than 60 years. •Barnier is now the shortest-serving prime minister in France’s modern Republic. •Left and far-right parties united to oust him following anger over his unpopular 2025 budget. •Both tabled motions of no-confidence after he used special powers to adopt part of the budget this week without a final vote in parliament. •Nationalist leader Marine Le Pen said the public needed to be protected from the “toxic” budget, and that pressure on Macron is getting “greater and greater”.
FRANCE – The government of President Emmanuel Macron collapsed Wednesday after the National Assembly voted for the first time in more than a half-century to oust a prime minister from office, a sign of the political gridlock that has paralyzed France. The development leaves the country’s public finances in limbo.
A no-confidence motion against the government of Prime Minister Michel Barnier won the support of 331 lawmakers in the 577-seat lower house, forcing him to resign.
Wednesday’s vote shows how the eurozone’s second-biggest economy risks becoming ungovernable. The growing fragmentation and polarization of France’s political ranks are testing the foundations of its democracy. The last time the National Assembly brought down a government was 1962 when France was reeling from the fallout of Algeria’s war for independence and an assassination attempt on then-President Charles de Gaulle.
Macron’s attempt to ward off the rise of Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally by calling snap elections this summer instead saddled the country with a hung parliament.
The National Assembly—which is divided between Macron loyalists, Le Pen’s ranks and an unruly alliance of leftist parties—splintered over its first order of business: approving the government’s budget for 2025. Le Pen and leftist lawmakers backed the no-confidence motion after Barnier proposed 60 billion euros—equivalent to $63.1 billion—in spending cuts and tax increases. The budget aimed to narrow France’s deficit, which is projected to reach more than 6% of gross domestic product this year, double the European Union’s limit. (read more)
… and President Trump is going to demand France spend more on NATO obligations. lol 
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