By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
PARIS (Worthy News) – French President Emmanuel Macron will address the nation on Thursday after the government lost a no-confidence vote, Worthy News learned.
Michel Barnier, 73, became France’s shortest-serving prime minister since the 1958 founding of the Fifth Republic, its current republican system of government.
He was ousted when the far-right opposition National Rally of Marine Le Pen joined leftist parties to bring down the government.
The vote was sparked by Barnier’s decision to use a constitutional mechanism called Article 49.3, which enables legislation to be adopted without a vote but opens the door to no-confidence motions.
He made the move after a last-minute concession was insufficient to win support from the influential far-right National Rally (RN) for his budget plans.
Yet the development risked further unsettling investors, who have already pushed up France’s borrowing costs beyond those of countries like Spain and Greece.
France now has a caretaker government, and President Macron must appoint a new prime minister who, analysts say, faces the same political turmoil and divided parliament as Barnier.
BARNIER BACK?
In theory, Macron could reappoint Barnier, who had been in power since September.
Yet Barnier did appear to rule himself out on Tuesday evening. “I want to serve,” he told media. “But what does it mean if I fall tomorrow and the day after you find me back here as if nothing had happened?”
Bernard Cazeneuve, 61, a former French prime minister and interior minister under Socialist President Francois Hollande, is among those being named as possible successors.
Already considered a possible prime minister this summer, observers say picking him could help Macron fracture the left-wing bloc by capitalizing on Cazeneuve’s ties to his former party.
Sébastien Lecornu, 38, is also mentioned. He is seen as a skilled politician who, in 2022, became the youngest defense minister since the French Revolution. “He’s a Macron loyalist who’s originally from the center-right Republicans party,” commented Bloomberg News agency.
Additionally, François Bayrou, 73, a veteran centrist leading the MoDem party and a key ally for Macron in parliament, is viewed as a possible prime minister. Currently the high commissioner for government planning, Bayrou supports proportional representation in parliamentary elections, which the National Rally has also requested.
Jean Castex, 59, a former prime minister under Macron known for his southern French accent and management skills, is another potential contender for the prime minister’s job. He heads the RATP, the state-owned company operating the Paris metro.
Copyright 1999-2026 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
More Worthy News
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Wednesday that President Donald Trump’s newly announced 15% global import tariff is expected to take effect sometime this week as the administration moves to rebuild its tariff framework after a recent Supreme Court ruling struck down part of the president’s trade agenda.
President Donald Trump met Wednesday with leaders of major technology companies at the White House as they formally backed a new initiative designed to prevent the rapid expansion of artificial intelligence data centers from driving up electricity prices for American consumers.
Stocks rebounded after a report that Iran made indirect contact with the United States to negotiate an end to the war in the Middle East, boosting hopes that the conflict could be short-lived.
An American submarine has destroyed an Iranian warship in the Indian Ocean near Sri Lanka in the “first sinking of an enemy ship by a torpedo since World War II,” killing scores of people, the U.S. defense secretary confirmed Wednesday.
Israel and the United States are increasingly targeting Iran’s internal security apparatus as part of their ongoing military campaign, striking organizations responsible for suppressing protests and maintaining the Islamic Republic’s grip on power.
The United States says it has struck nearly 2,000 targets across Iran and destroyed at least 17 Iranian naval vessels, including a submarine, as part of the widening military campaign known as Operation Epic Fury, launched together with Israel against the Islamic Republic.
Iran’s powerful Assembly of Experts has reportedly chosen Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of slain Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as the country’s next supreme leader amid the escalating war involving Iran, Israel and the United States.