The 100-Year Life Health Education and Government
Michel Barnier is now both the oldest and most short-lived French prime minister since the Fifth Republic was founded in 1958. Last night a motion of no confidence passed by 331 votes in the 577-strong national assembly, as Marine Le Pen’s far-right party joined forces with a leftist bloc to bring down Barnier’s government after three months over his deficit-cutting 2025 budget, which included €60 billion in tax increases and spending cuts. Emmanuel Macron is expected to move quickly to appoint a new prime minister – he needs to be all smiles this weekend to welcome Donald Trump to the reopening of Notre Dame – but France will likely stay stuck in a miserable deadlock until new elections can be held next summer. With Germany’s politics also in chaos and Trump soon back in the White House, the view from Brussels looks bleak.
