France’s parliament is expected to oust Prime Minister Francois Bayrou on Monday after just nine months in office, plunging the key EU member into new political uncertainty and creating a painful dilemma for President Emmanuel Macron.
Bayrou blindsided even his allies by calling a confidence vote to end a months-long standoff over his austerity budget, which foresees almost 44 billion euros ($52 billion) of cost savings to reduce France´s debt pile.
Opposition parties across the board have made it clear they will vote against his minority government, making it highly improbable he will get enough backing to survive — he needs a majority of the 577 MPs in the National Assembly.
Bayrou will become the second French prime minister in succession to have suffered such a fate after Michel Barnier was ejected in December after only three months in office.
Bayrou, the sixth prime minister under Macron since 2017, has given no indication in days of TV interviews that he expects to survive the vote.
Instead, he has asked: “Has our country understood the seriousness of the situation it finds itself in?”
He is expected to address parliament in a final bid for support from 1300 GMT with the vote awaited from 1700 GMT.
After the vote, Macron will face one of the most critical decisions of his presidency: appointing the seventh prime minister of his mandate to thrash out a compromise, or call snap elections in a bid to have a more accommodating parliap
