To lose one prime minister is unfortunate, but to lose six in eight years is downright negligent.
Since assuming office in 2017, French President Emmanuel Macron has seen half a dozen prime ministers leave, each of whom he had handpicked.
Francois Bayrou, a 74-year-old centrist, is the latest casualty following a No Confidence vote in parliament after just nine months in power.
What makes this recent departure particularly noteworthy is that it was Bayrou himself who initiated the ‘back me or sack me’ vote, fully aware that he was unlikely to succeed. Political rival Marine Le Pen aptly termed it ‘political suicide’.
Bayrou ostensibly called the vote to unify a fragmented and factional parliament around his proposed €44 billion (£38 billion) budget cuts, urgent measures needed to curb the country’s debt spiral.
As the leader of a minority coalition government, Bayrou needs cross-party support to get anything through the gridlocked French parliament.
‘The life of the nation is at stake,’ he pleaded. Unfortunately, his words fell on deaf ears last night, leading him to join a distinguished list of recently ousted PMs, which includes former Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier.
And so, with the national finances in peril and populism brewing on both the left and the right, who or what can save France from itself?
Francois Bayrou, a 74-year-old centrist, is the latest casualty following a No Confidence vote in parliament after just nine months in power
In truth, the country has been living beyond its means for decades. National debt has soared to a staggering 114 percent of GDP (in the UK, it stands at 96.1 percent), while the budget deficit is at 5.8 percent of GDP.
These statistics point to an alarming lack of fiscal discipline and fall short of the EU’s financial standards. (France is the second-largest economy in the Eurozone, behind Germany.)
Not that France’s unchecked public spending has resulted in Liberty, Equality and Fraternity.
Most French citizens – the vast majority – face a cost of living crisis, frequent job losses and are obliged to watch on as the inequality gap widens between those at the helm of corporate juggernauts and ordinary workers.
Millions are preparing to join strikes that are likely to turn autumn and winter into a period of intense civil unrest – a nationwide ‘Block France’ protest has already been announced for this coming Wednesday and police fear widespread rioting.
No doubt the disorder will be exploited by the far-Left, and indeed the hard-Right. Both see discontent as the road to electoral success.
Arguably the most likely to profit is Marine Le Pen’s hard-Right National Rally, which is already the largest party in the National Assembly, albeit with just 123 of 577 seats.
However, long-time Presidential hopeful Le Pen was found guilty of embezzlement in March this year and banned from standing in elections for five years. She has since appealed against the conviction, but it hardly inspires confidence.
Political rival Marine Le Pen described Bayrou’s ‘back me or sack me’ vote as ‘political suicide’
Meanwhile, as a neutered Parliament argues with itself, Emmanuel Macron continues to rule by presidential decree, bypassing Parliament to brazenly push through his own agenda.
The President of France is absurdly powerful. He can appoint anyone he likes as prime minister – some of Macron’s PMs have not even been elected politicians.
Cabinet ministers, too, can be appointed because they are close friends or even corporate cronies.
No wonder that Macron looked on with Napoleonic insouciance as Bayrou’s head toppled from the proverbial guillotine last night.
He can simply find another lame duck to take the title of prime minister, nominally responsible for the country’s domestic affairs, while Macron continues to wield true power.
France is in disarray, but the massively unpopular Macron will carry on regardless, blaming everyone but himself for the chronic malaise that has seized French politics.
With a winter of discontent on the horizon, I believe France must now prepare for a complete revamping of the entire political system.
Perhaps even the establishment of a new Sixth Republic, one with a new constitution, empowered parliament and reduced presidential might.
It might just be the only thing that can save France from itself.
Nabila Ramdani is a French journalist and academic of Algerian descent, and author of Fixing France: How To Repair A Broken Republic (2023)
