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
Satellite imagery appears to show a massive oil slick spreading off the coast of Iran’s strategically vital Kharg Island, raising fresh concerns over environmental damage and growing instability in the Persian Gulf amid ongoing regional tensions.
The Trump administration on Friday released the first batch of formerly classified government documents, videos, and photographs related to unidentified aerial phenomena (UAPs), opening decades of mysterious military and government reports to public scrutiny.
President Donald Trump announced Friday that Russia and Ukraine have agreed to a three-day ceasefire and a large-scale prisoner exchange, marking the latest diplomatic breakthrough in the more than four-year war that has devastated both nations and reshaped global geopolitics.
Indonesia was dealing with the aftermath of several deadly natural disasters Saturday, with authorities saying at least three hikers were killed in a volcanic eruption and three others died after torrential rain triggered a landslide earlier this week.
Outgoing Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said Friday he is ready to face justice if prosecuted over alleged corruption accusations and defended his record as Hungary’s longest-serving government leader in recent history.
Three Greek Catholic parishes can no longer continue operating legally in autocratically ruled Belarus after their mandatory applications for “re-registration” were rejected by a regional court, well-informed Christians told Worthy News.
The U.S. economy added 115,000 jobs in April, far surpassing economists’ expectations and signaling that the labor market may be showing renewed strength even as inflation and global instability continue weighing on American households. The unemployment rate held steady at 4.3%, according to new data released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.