# Collapse of the Barnier government

On 4 December 2024, the Barnier government in France headed by Michel Barnier of The Republicans collapsed following a successful vote of no confidence in the National Assembly. Part of an extended political crisis, the vote of no confidence was the first to pass since 1962 and resulted in Barnier's government being the shortest serving in the history of the French Fifth Republic.

## Collapse
### 2025 budget proposal

In mid-October 2024, Barnier presented his government's proposal for the 2025 government budget to the National Assembly. Focused on reducing the budget deficit, the proposal included a wide range of austerity measures, including forty billion euros of spending cuts and twenty billion euros of tax increases.
The budget proposal received significant criticism from the left, with Socialist Party leader Olivier Faure accusing Barnier of "turning towards the far-right to avoid a no-confidence vote."
On 2 December, Barnier invoked Article 49.3 of the French Constitution in order to enact the budget proposal without a formal vote by the National Assembly. This meant that the only way to block the budget was for lawmakers to adopt a motion of no confidence in the government, pursuant to the provisions of the Article. The New Popular Front formally introduced such a motion later the same day.

### Debate

The motion was debated on 4 December.
In his closing remarks, Barnier claimed that it had been "an honor for me to have served France and the French with dignity" and that a no confidence vote would "make everything more serious and more difficult."

### Vote

Motion of no confidence :
| Ballot → | Ballot → | 4 December 2024 |
| Required majority → | Required majority → | 288 out of 575 Y |
| | Votes in favour • RN (123) • LFI (71) • SOC (65) • ECO (38) • GDR (16) • UDR (16) • LIOT (1) • NI (1) | 331 / 573 |
| | Abstentions or absentees | 244 / 575 |
| Source |||
Ultimately, 331 deputies, a majority of the National Assembly, voted for no confidence in the government.
All La France Insoumise and The Ecologists deputies voted in favour of non-confidence. All Socialist Party deputies except for Sophie Pantel, who didn't participate, also voted in favour. 123 of the 124 National Rally deputies voted in favour (with Sophie Blanc not participating in the vote), as did all UDR deputies.
Caledonian Union deputy Emmanuel Tjibaou did not participate.

## Aftermath

On 5 December, over 130,000 public sector workers held a one-day strike in protest against Barnier's budget proposal, with the aim of warning Macron that doubling-down on the proposed austerity measures would cause further unrest.
At 19:00 that day, Macron gave a televised speech addressing the government's collapse. In the speech, Macron vowed to stay in office until the end of his term in 2027, to name a new prime minister shortly, and to present an emergency law to ensure taxes could still be collected and a government shutdown avoided in the new year. He also accused the National Rally and the New Popular Front of uniting in an "anti-republican front," saying that "they chose disorder."

## Reactions
### Financial

Moody's Ratings warned that the government's collapse "deepens the country's political stalemate" and "reduces the probability of a consolidation of public finances."

### Political commentators

Author Éric Brunet described the collapse as "jaw-droppingly French," saying that there was "no pragmatism. Just ideology. All the speeches were about values, about extremes. Our whole discourse is disconnected from reality." Simon Toubeau of the University of Nottingham described the collapse as a "persistence of the competitive and majoritarian instincts of France's politicians that engendered this crisis," adding that while Macron was "content to partner with the others to keep the RN out of power, these noble sentiments evaporated when it came to governing."

### Politicians

Republican politician and minister of the interior in the Barnier government Bruno Retailleau stated that the right "cannot make a compromise with the left" in forming a new government.
National Rally leader Marine Le Pen stated that she did not want Macron to resign, but called on him to "respect the voice of voters and show respect for political forces and respect for elections."
Senator Anne Souyris of The Ecologists stated that the collapse proved that Macron "has not taken stock of what is happening" in France.

### Unions and NGOs

General Confederation of Labour secretary general Sophie Binet claimed that Macron's "supply-side policy is leading us into a wall. It is a catastrophe, an economic and social disaster."