French Parliament Ousts Bayrou, Government Collapses
Deepening fiscal crisis topples France's fourth government in a year, exposing eurozone's second-largest economy to institutional paralysis
French Prime Minister François Bayrou was overwhelmingly ousted Monday in a 364-194 confidence vote, collapsing his minority government after just nine months in office. The defeat came after Bayrou staked his survival on a controversial budget plan requiring €44 billion in cuts to reduce France's deficit from 5.8% to 4.6% of GDP.
Image: Assemblée nationale française, Palais Bourbon, Paris (photo: NonOmnisMoriar / CC BY-SA 3.0)
Parliament rejected Bayrou's appeal despite his warning that France faced "life-threatening" debt, with the prime minister declaring: "You have the power to bring down the government, but you do not have the power to erase reality." At the end of the first quarter of 2025, France's public debt stood at €3.346 trillion, equal to 114% of gross domestic product.
The collapse marks France's second government failure in less than a year, following Michel Barnier's December ouster. President Emmanuel Macron now faces the task of appointing his fourth prime minister in 20 months, with limited palatable options as opposition parties signal they would immediately challenge another centrist appointment.
Investors have grown rattled, with yields on French government bonds rising above those of Spain, Portugal and Greece—countries once at the heart of the eurozone debt crisis. Far-right leader Marine Le Pen called for snap elections, confident her National Rally would emerge victorious.
The crisis stems from Macron's failed gamble in dissolving the National Assembly in June 2024, which produced a fragmented legislature with no dominant bloc for the first time in France's modern republic. The instability comes at a critical moment for Europe, facing wars in Ukraine and the Middle East while needing coordinated responses to economic and security challenges.
Our Take: Europe's ability to act now hinges on France. A misstep in Paris could narrow Europe's already thin margin between deterrence and drift. With Berlin absorbed by economic troubles and London sidelined, a drifting France leaves Europe without a clear coordinator when leadership is most needed.