Macron Vows to Remain as France Grapples With Unprecedented Political and Economic Turmoil

French President Emmanuel Macron speaks at the "Berlin Global Dialogue 2024" event at the European School of Management and Technology (ESMT) in Berlin, Germany, on Oct. 2, 2024. Ludovic Marin/AFP/Getty Images

France faces a political crisis as economic challenges and growing public unrest put President Emmanuel Macron under intense pressure, though he has vowed to remain in office.

On Dec. 5, French lawmakers from both sides of the political spectrum voted to remove Prime Minister Michel Barnier from a powerful post, signaling deepening divisions within the French parliament. This marks the first French government forced out by a no-confidence vote since 1962.

This is just one chapter in a series of setbacks for Macron, who has struggled to pass crucial policies, after calling a snap election on June 9 that delivered a hung parliament creating political uncertainty.

‘Rare Political Uncertainty’

French media have reacted strongly to the unfolding situation.

Libération called it a period of “rare political uncertainty.” Le Monde said, “Emmanuel Macron is the primary responsible for this unprecedented and risky political situation.”

Le Figaro ran, “Historic removal, political crisis” on its cover.

Macron addressed the nation in a televised speech at 8 p.m. on Thursday.

He said he would name a successor to Barnier “in the coming days.”

“The priority will be the budget,” Macron said.

Macron has vowed to remain in the Elysee Palace for the duration of his term, which runs until mid-2027, and he cannot be ousted by Parliament, though opposition on both his left and right flanks are already calling for his resignation.

“The mandate you have given me is for five years and I will fulfil it until the very end,” he said.

French Prime Minister Michel Barnier delivers a speech during the debate prior to the no-confidence votes on his administration at the National Assembly in Paris on Dec. 4, 2024. Alain Jocard/AFP via Getty Images

Macron is being pulled in multiple directions, caught between a left-wing coalition that includes his own party, La France Insoumise, the Socialist Party, the Ecologists, and the French Communist Party, and the right-wing National Rally.

Polarization

Frank Furedi, executive director of MCC Brussels, told The Epoch Times that the crisis is exacerbated by the divided nature of France’s political landscape.

“The really important thing to remember here is that the way the crisis is represented suggests there are three groups in Parliament, all of them roughly of the same strength,” he said.

“That’s not entirely accurate, though, because during the elections, the left united against the Rassemblement National [National Rally] and tried to minimize their electoral success.”

He said he believed that the “polarization of France” could intensify.

EU

The political uncertainty in France also comes at a critical moment for the European Union.

The recent collapse of Germany’s ruling coalition has further exacerbated the region’s struggles.

With France and Germany—the EU’s two largest economies—facing significant political crises, and “living on borrowed money,”the EU’s internal weaknesses were being exposed, Furedi said.

“It exposes the internal weakness of this project, because actually, the EU and its project look much stronger than they really are,” he said.

He said the current crises in both France and Germany highlight the need to rethink the balance of power within the EU.

“All bets are off now because the existing customs, the way the EU has been run, and the kind of assumptions about its economic affairs—all these things have to face reality,” he said.

Deeply Divided

The uncertainty around the deeply divided French Parliament has also made it increasingly difficult for the government to pass the 2025 budget.

The country’s debt is projected to soar to above 3 trillion euros ($3.17 trillion) by 2025, with public debt hovering at around 110 percent of GDP.

The 2025 budget had targeted 60 billion euros ($63.5 billion) in spending cuts and tax increases to narrow the deficit down to 5 percent next year toward meeting the European Union’s EU 3 percent limit by 2029.

Though if nothing is done, France’s political situation will send a bad signal to financial markets, said the industry prior to Macron’s speech.

The fall of France’s government leaves the country without a clear path toward reducing its fiscal deficit, and the most likely outcome is less belt-tightening than previously planned, credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s (S&P) said on Dec. 5.

It said that Macron could adopt exceptional budget measures, bypassing parliament to avoid a U.S.-style government shutdown.

Mathieu Savary, chief investment strategist at BCA Research, told Reuters that he believed that “paralysis will remain the dominant feature of French politics for the next two years, which means that the debt is unlikely to be fundamentally addressed”

He said the “potential threat rather to the credit rating of France is something that will keep investors at bay.”

However, since Macron said he would appoint a new prime minister in the coming days and his top priority would be getting a 2025 budget adopted by parliament, French debt risk premiums have stabilized slightly.

Guy Birchall and Reuters contributed to this report.