If he could outmaneuver the British during Brexit negotiations, many assumed Michel Barnier could pull off one last spectacular political feat—calming fears over France’s debt crisis and steadying the ship for President Emmanuel Macron.
But the high hopes for Barnier were not to last. The embattled prime minister is expected to face a no-confidence vote on Wednesday after failing to gain approval from Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally party for a scaled-back budget aimed at restoring fiscal discipline.
For nearly three months, Barnier’s government had benefited from the tacit backing of the National Rally. However, the alliance has now fractured. Le Pen’s party plans to join forces with the left-wing New Popular Front coalition, condemning Barnier’s unpopular blend of tax hikes and public spending cuts. The move all but guarantees the government’s collapse.
The fallout promises to be severe. Should he be ousted, Barnier will become the first French prime minister to be forced out of office since 1962, leaving behind a tarnished legacy.
“In France, he made a major miscalculation,” said Gaspard Gantzer, a former Élysée advisor under President François Hollande. “It’s baffling he thought he could find common ground with an extremist party like the far right.”
A Mission Impossible
Barnier’s appointment seemed doomed from the start. The fierce divisions in French politics left him with an almost impossible task.
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