France’s government voted out

Michel Barnier is the first prime minister since 1962 to lose a no-confidence vote

French Prime Minister Michel Barnier has lost a vote of no-confidence vote in parliament, as lawmakers on both the left and the right united to oust him.

A no-confidence motion requires 288 votes in the National Assembly. Wednesday evening’s motion received 331 votes, with the left-wing New Popular Front (NPF) and the ring-wing National Rally (RN) uniting in opposition to the minority cabinet imposed by President Emmanuel Macron.

“I don’t consider it a victory,” RN’s Marine Le Pen told TF1 after the vote. “We made the choice we did to protect the French people.”

“It was not done lightly,” Le Pen added. “There was no other solution.”

Macron appointed Barnier in September, drawing the ire of NPF. The left-wing coalition won the most seats in the parliament in this summer’s snap elections, as part of a pact with the president to sideline RN. But Macron then turned around and snubbed NPF in favor of a minority cabinet that relied on tacit RN support.

Things came to a head over the social security budget proposal, in which Barnier tried to cut spending by €40 billion ($41.87 billion) and raise €20 billion in taxes to deal with a massive deficit. RN threatened a no-confidence vote unless the cabinet made a number of concessions to its “red lines.”