FRENCH President Emmanuel Macron says he will stay on “until the end” of his five-year term, until May 2027, after a no-confidence vote in parliament toppled the government.
Speaking to the nation in a televised address on Thursday, Macron said he would name a new prime minister in the “coming days”.
“The mandate you have given me is for five years, and I will exercise it until the very end,” Macron asserted during the 10-minute speech.
He pointed blame at his opponents on the far right for bringing down the government of Prime Minister Michel Barnier. He said they chose “not to do but to undo”.
“They chose disorder,” he said, adding the far right and the far left had united in what he called “an anti-Republican front”, and stressed that “I won’t shoulder other people’s irresponsibility”.
A total of 331 lawmakers in France’s 577-seat National Assembly voted to remove the government in the no-confidence vote on Wednesday, forcing Barnier to step down after three months in office – the shortest tenure of any prime minister in modern French history.
Barnier submitted his resignation in a meeting with Macron at the Elysee Palace earlier.
Macron “took note” of the resignation and asked Barnier and his government to continue in a caretaker capacity “until the appointment of a new government”, the Elysee said in a statement.
Barnier’s removal came after snap parliamentary elections in June and July resulted in a hung house, with no political force able to form an overall majority and the far right holding the key to the government’s survival.
Allies in Macron’s camp have joined the chorus urging swift action. After the snap elections, it took Macron nearly two months to appoint Barnier.
“I recommend that he proceed quickly to the appointment of a prime minister, it’s important. We must not leave things up in the air,” National Assembly President Yael Braun-Pivet told France Inter radio before meeting Macron earlier on Thursday.
Francois Bayrou, whose name is often invoked by French media as a possible successor to Barnier, was due to have lunch with Macron, Le Parisien newspaper and other media reported. Bayrou is a veteran centrist politician and a close Macron ally.
Outgoing Defence Minister Sebastien Lecornu has also been noted as a possible candidate for prime minister. There was no word yet of a possible Macron meeting with him.