Francois Bayrou was ousted in a 364-194 vote, leaving President Macron to search for a fifth prime minister in less than 2 years
France’s parliament voted on Monday to bring down the government over its plans to tame the ballooning national debt, deepening a political crisis and handing President Emmanuel Macron the task of finding a fifth prime minister in fewer than two years.
Bayrou had called the confidence vote unexpectedly to try to win parliamentary support for his strategy to lower a deficit that stands at nearly double the European Union’s 3 per cent ceiling and to start tackling a debt pile equivalent to 114 per cent of GDP.
They forced Bayrou out, with 364 votes against him and only 194 backing him.
“This moment marks the end of the agony of a phantom government,” far-right leader Marine Le Pen said, pushing for a snap parliamentary election, which Macron has so far ruled out.
