Macron Faces Search For New French Prime Minister (Worthy News Radio)

by Stefan J. Bos, Worthy News Europe Bureau Chief

PARIS/BUDAPEST (Worthy News) – French President Emmanuel Macron is seeking his fifth prime minister in less than two years after opposition parties united to oust center-right Prime Minister François Bayrou over his unpopular plans for massive budget tightening.

The National Assembly voted 364 to 194 to remove the 74-year-old Bayrou from office, forcing the resignation of his government under Article 50 of the constitution. Crowds in several cities cheered the announcement.

Just before the vote, Bayrou pleaded with deputies not to topple his cabinet. He defended his austerity program — 44 billion euros (about $51 billion) in spending cuts — as essential to stabilize public finances and prevent greater instability.

Bayrou insisted his government had projected “an image of the Republic that is honourable and active.”

He also warned against what he called “violent rhetoric” dominating French politics, adding: “If we can, through our attitude, try to move away from this image of violence and contempt, we would be doing a service to the democracy we defend.”

The debate was tense. The radical-right, Eurosceptic National Rally repeated its call for early parliamentary elections.

Its leader, Marine Le Pen, accused both the center-right Republicans and the center-left Socialists of decades of fiscal mismanagement. “Leaders of both the right and the left you are guilty,” she said.

You cannot cry in front of the cameras about the consequences of misdeeds you have committed yourself. It is indeed a curious way, of waiving the debts for which you are accountable, the deficits for which you are responsible, the general collapse for which you are guilty, in order to seek the confidence of parliament.”

President Emmanuel Macron must now appoint a new prime minister amid political turmoil and widespread social unrest, with more mass protests expected this week.

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