Far-right Marine Le Pen promises no-confidence vote to topple French government

MARSEILLE, France (CN) — On Monday, Marine Le Pen announced her extreme-right National Rally would pull the trigger to bring down France’s new government in a matter of days.

France’s majority-less Parliament has been hanging by a thread in recent weeks amid disputes over the 2025 budget. The left-wing New Popular Front had already said it would issue a “no” vote, leaving Le Pen’s group to decide whether it would issue a no-confidence vote. By joining forces, the two blocs would have a big enough majority to topple the three-month-old government.

Prime Minister Michel Barnier attempted to court Le Pen multiple times in recent weeks during in-person meetings and calls. He made some concessions to the National Rally’s demands, which largely revolved around reducing the burden on individual household incomes and cutting a proposed hike on electricity taxes.

On Monday, Barnier announced he would bulldoze the budget through Parliament by using a controversial article of the constitution to bypass a vote. The work-around doesn’t make bills immune to motions of censure, though.

“I don’t think the French would forgive us for putting individual interests ahead of the nation’s future,” Barnier told lawmakers on Monday, just before invoking article 49.3. “French people are calling for and expecting stability.”

Shortly after the announcement, Le Pen told a crowd of reporters, “We will submit and vote on a motion of censure, and we will vote for the censure of the government.”

Le Pen cited higher taxes as the key issue. She said Barnier’s plan didn’t meet enough of the National Rally’s criteria. French people have “had enough,” she said, adding that while there were high hopes for Barnier, he has only made things worse.

“The demands that we made were particularly reasonable and despite that, the government only took one of our demands into account,” she said.

Political parties have 24 hours to put together a no-confidence motion, with a final vote expected Wednesday. If each side follows through, France will likely be without a government by the end of the week.

Although Le Pen is pulling the trigger, many will blame President Emmanuel Macron for the political instability that has rocked the country for six months.

In June, as France watched the extreme-right party make unprecedented gains in the European elections, Macron announced that he would dissolve France’s government and hold snap legislative elections.

The move sent the country into a political tailspin that lasted for months, and no side was happy with the aftermath.

Although the New Popular Front won the most seats in the election, Macron refused to appoint their proposed prime minister, Lucie Castets, spreading rancor across the left. Macron’s final choice — Barnier, appointed roughly three months after the election — is from the party Les Républicains, a far-right group that finished fifth in the legislative elections.

Since the left has threatened Barnier with no-confidence votes since his appointment, Le Pen knew her party had the power to kickstart the process. Barnier cozied up to the National Rally for months, apparently unsuccessfully.

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