France’s populist party joined with its leftist party to oust the nation’s Prime Minister, collapsing the nation’s government. How will this affect France and Europe at large?

From Breitbart. The government of France has fallen for the second time this year, as a vote of no confidence in Prime Minister Michel Barnier was passed by the National Assembly on Wednesday …

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Just 91 days after being installed in the Hôtel Matignon by President Macron, Michel Barnier saw his government collapse on Wednesday, as Marine Le Pen’s populist National Rally (RN) party joined onto a censure motion to dethrone the government launched by the left-wing New Popular Front (NFP) bloc, Le Figaro reports.

While Le Pen and her faction gave Barnier’s government benefit of the doubt support following July’s snap legislative elections, in which the National Assembly was left in a three-way split between the leftist NFP, the National Rally, and neo-liberal Macronists, Prime Minister Barnier’s move on Monday to invoke a constitutional loophole in an attempt to push through effective cuts to social security payments to seniors without a vote in the parliament, saw Le Pen revoke her support from the government and announce her support for the NFP’s no confidence vote.

The motion passed the National Assembly on Wednesday as 331 MPs voted in favour of collapsing the government, far surpassing the 289 needed to pass. It marks the first time since 1962 that a government in Paris was ousted by parliamentary vote. …

In his final speech in front of the National Assembly on Wednesday ahead of his fait accompli removal, Barnier said: “This is reality. I tried to confront it by presenting difficult financial texts. I would have preferred to distribute money, even if we don’t have any. But this reality remains there, it will not disappear by the magic of a motion of censure. This reality will be remembered by any government whatever it may be.”

The collapse of the French government, just weeks after the German coalition government broke down, has left a power vacuum in the heart of the EU. Going forward, President Macron, who returned today from a trip to Saudi Arabia, will have limited options in steering the French state, given a constitutional prohibition on him calling for fresh parliamentary elections until midway through next year and his refusal to resign from the presidency, which would spark a national election. …

Although Barnier was pitched to the public as a steady political operator who could navigate the divided National Assembly and pass through budgetary cuts needed to avert the nation’s looming debt crisis, the 73-year-old veteran politician was apparently not up to the task. Stunningly, reports emerged on Tuesday that Barnier believed that Le Pen’s threat to collapse the government over social security cuts was a bluff and therefore decided to abandon negotiating with the RN leader.

Appearing before the hemicycle at the Palais Bourbon on Wednesday, Le Pen said: “Here we are at the moment of truth… which puts an end to an ephemeral government… It is within its ranks that intransigence, sectarianism and dogmatism prohibited the Prime Minister from making the slightest concession, which would have avoided this outcome.”

“The budget we are rejecting today does not just break your promises. It has neither direction nor vision. It’s a technocratic budget that continues to slide downhill, careful not to touch the totem that is uncontrolled immigration,” Le Pen declared. …

Following the no confidence vote bringing down the government, Barnier will be able to hang on in the form of a caretaker until President Macron appoints a new prime minister. Barnier will be prevented from passing new legislation, however, he can enact emergency measures, including potentially approving money to fund public services to avoid an American-style government shut down. …

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(Excerpt from Breitbart. Photo Credit: Stéphane Legrand on Unsplash)