The French government was overthrown on Monday by a vote without confidence, forcing President Emmanuel Macron to seek his fourth Prime Minister in 12 months – and launched the second EU economy in chaos.

Prime Minister François Bayrou was massively ousted during a 364-194 vote against him, losing an apparent bet that legislators would support his thrust for France to reduce public spending to reimburse his debts.

The 74 -year -old centrist was rather withdrawn, ending his short -term minority government after being appointed by Macron in December.

France, which has the most powerful military and nuclear arsenal in the European Union, has now been pushed into uncertainty and the risk of prolonged legislative blocking in the midst of internal budgetary difficulties and international misfortunes in Ukraine and the Middle East.

Although Macron had two weeks to prepare for the collapse after Bayrou announced last month that he was looking for a vote with confidence, a clear track has not yet emerged.

Bayrou is the last Prime Minister to leave his duties prematurely since September 2024, when former Prime Minister Gabriel Attal resigned after failing to win a majority.

Attal’s successor, Michel Barnier, was ousted by Parliament three months later.

Bayrou admitted on Monday in his last speech as Prime Minister and his bet to fight against the debt crisis of France by standing near his unpopular economic plan did not bear fruit.

At the end of the first quarter of 2025, France’s public debt was 3.93 billions of dollars, or around 114% of the gross domestic product. (American / GDP debt is around 119%.)

Baryou’s hope to reduce debt included an offer to push an $ 51 billion savings plan that called for abandoning two holidays and freezing public spending.

“The greatest risk was not to take one, to let things continue without changing anything, to do politics as usual,” he said, describing France as a nation confronted with “a silent, underground, invisible and unbearable” hemorrhage of excessive public loans.

“Submission to debt is like submission by military force. Dominated by arms, or dominated by our creditors, due to a debt that overwhelms us – in both cases, we lose our freedom,” added Bayrou.

“You have the power to overthrow the government, but you do not have the power to erase reality,” finally warned the legislators who ousted it.

“Reality will remain inexorable. Expenditure will continue to increase and the burden of debt – already unbearable – will become heavier and more expensive. ”

Bayrou’s faulty game reminds Macron’s own astonishing decision to dissolve the National Assembly in June 2024, which, according to him, would strengthen his pro-European central alliance.

The decision, however, turned around, creating any dominant political block for the first time in the modern history of France and igniting the tensions between the legislators and the president.

The far -right chief, Marine Le Pen, has now called Macron to dissolve the National Assembly again, confident that his Rallye National Party can earn a majority during an election to a snap.

“A large country like France cannot live with a paper government, especially in a tormented and dangerous world,” she said in the National Assembly.

The state of the National Assembly also echoed the calls for Macron’s resignation in the middle of the pressure of the left and the right, the centrist president promising to remain in office until the end of his mandate.

Bayrou should officially submit his resignation to Macron on Tuesday, giving the president for a few days to appoint a successor to avoid even more chaos in Parliament.

With postal wires