A political crisis is raging in France. What the media are saying
France's National Assembly has passed a vote of no confidence in Michel Barnier's government. It should resign after only 90 days of work. Members of Parliament also called on the country's President Emmanuel Macron to leave office. What the media write about the political crisis in France - in the digest of "Izvestia".
Reuters: the French government will resign for the first time since 1962
French Prime Minister Michel Barnier will resign on December 5 after lawmakers from the far-right Rassemblement Nationale and the leftist New Popular Front voted to dismiss his government, plunging France into its second major political crisis in six months. The former European Union Brexit negotiator will become the shortest-lived prime minister in modern French history. No French government has faced a vote of no confidence since Georges Pompidou in 1962.
Reuters
The extreme left and extreme right have punished Barnier for pushing an unpopular budget through an out-of-control, hung parliament without a vote. The draft budget envisioned €60 billion in savings in an attempt to reduce the deficit. Barnier's resignation will end weeks of tension around the budget, which National Rally leader Marine Le Pen said was too harsh on workers
The vote of no confidence has weakened the position of Macron, who triggered the current crisis with his decision to hold snap parliamentary elections in the summer. France risks ending the year without a stable government and a new budget. That in turn would weaken the entire European Union.
Politico: Le Pen called on Macron to resign
The political chaos is prompting a growing number of lawmakers to call for the resignation of Macron, whose term runs through 2027. It would be an almost unprecedented move in modern French politics. Macron's office said the president will deliver an address on December 5 at 20:00 (22:00 Moscow time).
Politico
Speaking ahead of the vote, far-right leader Marine Le Pen said Macron would "sacrifice the fate of France because of his vanity" if he did not resign. "Emmanuel Macron has attacked the foundations of the nation for the past seven years," Le Pen said. <...> "He alone can pull the country out of the rut it is in [after his resignation].
Mathilde Panot of the far-left Unruly France party said the vote was a defeat for "all of Macron's policies." She also called on the president to resign. Until then, the head of state should propose a new candidate for prime minister.
The Washington Post: the crisis in France occurred against the backdrop of the fall of the government in Germany
A vote of no confidence in the French parliament triggered the collapse of the government, plunging the country into political chaos and heightening concerns about the eurozone's second-largest economy. The situation is exacerbated by the fact that there are no obvious candidates for politicians who could form a stable government. New legislative elections that could change the political dynamic may not be held until the summer.
The Washington Post
Turmoil in France just weeks after the collapse of Germany's government threatens to leave two of Europe's most powerful countries without governance, as European officials warn they should prepare to strike if U.S. President-elect Donald Trump launches a trade war or cuts aid to Ukraine
France's political crisis threatens to turn into a financial crisis as investors worry about the fate of a series of measures designed to tackle the country's extremely high budget deficit, which stands at more than 6 percent of GDP. This is well above the EU's 3% benchmark.
Bloomberg: France has no candidates for the role of prime minister
Macron needs to find a prime minister who can get the 2025 budget through a strife-torn parliament. But any new leader would face the same financial difficulties that brought down Michel Barnier's cabinet. Ministers will continue to serve in interim roles for now. Barnier will be able to use emergency laws to collect taxes and guarantee a minimum level of spending.
Bloomberg
The French president has sole responsibility for appointing a new prime minister, but there are no constitutional time limits on the decision and no obvious candidate: Macron took nearly two months to decide on Barnier. Once appointed, the new prime minister proposes a cabinet appointed by the president and must then send a new budget bill for 2025 to parliament
Le Pen has said she is willing to work with another government if it will work with her party on the budget. There are signs that Macron's allies will try to pull the Socialists from the New Popular Front to their side and agree on the next candidate.
BBC News: the crisis in France will not be resolved quickly
The root cause of the political crisis in France remains. It is the division of the National Assembly into three roughly equal blocs, none of which is willing to deal with the other. As a result, the two blocs that make up the opposition will always be able to overthrow the bloc that forms the government. For many, this is a regime crisis in which the very future of the institutions of the Fifth Republic is at stake.
BBC News
As many commentators have pointed out, France, with its monarchical instincts and vertical concept of power, has never developed a culture of compromise. Thus the three blocs in today's parliament, formed by voters after Macron's dissolution in June, have proved incapable of creating a constructive environment for governing
Some see this as the culmination of France's years-long refusal to recognize economic reality and rein in the steady rise in public spending. The result is a deficit that can only be solved by cuts, but no government can make them. Only by coming face to face with the economic abyss will France make the difficult decision that lies ahead.
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