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The French government has collapsed after leftist and far-right lawmakers united to oust Prime Minister Michel Barnier in a no-confidence vote Wednesday. The vote came amid intense opposition to Barnier’s budget proposal and its roughly $60 billion in spending cuts and tax increases. It’s the first time France’s government has fallen to a no-confidence vote since 1962.
French President Emmanuel Macron is addressing the nation later today. Macron could ask Barnier to stay on as caretaker prime minister until he names a successor. It’s the latest defeat for the embattled Macron, who faced fierce backlash after selecting the conservative Barnier as prime minister in September instead of a progressive politician, despite a leftist coalition winning the most votes in July’s snap parliamentary elections. Mathilde Panot of the progressive France Unbowed party called on Macron to step down following the vote.
Mathilde Panot: “We are ready to govern on a program of change. Emmanuel Macron must go. And we want to show any moment and we will demonstrate that another world is always possible and that the only sovereign in this country remains the people, and them alone.”
Good for them. Macron pulled a really shitty backstab of a move when he decided to appoint a conservative PM after the leftists won