Skip to main content
French government to fall following success of New Popular Front's no confidence motion
French Prime Minister Michel Barnier leaves after addressing the National Assembly prior to a vote on a no-confidence motion that could bring him down and his cabinet for the first time since 1962, December 4, 2024 in Paris

PRESIDENT Emmanuel Macron was set to address the French nation last night, a day after the prime minister he appointed, Michel Barnier, lost a no confidence vote in the National Assembly.

It was the first time in more than 60 years that a French government has been voted out by parliament.

The motion, proposed by the left-wing New Popular Front (NFP) coalition and supported by the far-right National Rally (RN) of Marine Le Pen, which had previously propped up Mr Barnier’s government, came after he had controversially used special executive powers to force through his unpopular budget without a vote.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
Similar stories
Jose Antonio Kast
Features / 24 December 2025
24 December 2025

From Reform UK to Trump, Orban and beyond, the far right is organised across borders and growing. Waiting for it to collapse is a fatal error – building an international, locally rooted left alternative is now an urgent necessity., argues ROGER McKENZIE

A protester of the
Features / 22 September 2025
22 September 2025

DENNIS BROE gives an update on the last week of anti-austerity protests against the Macron regime, which has seen the supposedly more right-leaning Gilets Jaunes join with the unions and the left

NOT BUDGING AN INCH: A rally of the ‘Block Everything’ movement in Strasbourg, eastern France on Wednesday, the placard that reads: ‘Let's tax the rich,’ and the guillotine adds a telling historic context
Features / 13 September 2025
13 September 2025

The desperate French president keeps running up the same political cul-de-sac. DENNIS BROE offers an explanation