French PM set to resign after government collapses

The French prime minister, Michel Barnier, is expected to resign on Thursday, a day after his government became the first to be toppled by a no-confidence vote in more than 60 years and just three months after it took office – a record ouster.

Barnier is due to present President Emmanuel Macron with his government’s resignation on Thursday morning. The president would address the nation on Thursday evening, the Elysée said.

“I can tell you that it will remain an honour for me to have served France and the French with dignity,” Barnier said in his final speech before the vote. “This no-confidence motion … will make everything more serious and more difficult. That’s what I’m sure of.”

Barnier’s defenestration comes after snap parliamentary elections this summer, which resulted in a hung parliament with no party having an overall majority and the far right holding the key to the government’s survival.

Macron has the unenviable task of picking a viable successor with over two years of his presidential term left, with some – though not all – opponents calling on him to resign. The fragmented parliament will remain unchanged as no new legislative elections can be held until at least July.

The no-confidence motion, brought by the hard left in the National Assembly, came amid a standoff over next year’s austerity budget, after the prime minister on Monday forced through a social security financing bill without a vote.

With markets nervous and France bracing for public-sector strikes against the threat of cuts, action that will shut schools and hit air and rail traffic, there is a growing sense of crisis.

Unions have called for civil servants, including teachers and air-traffic controllers, to strike on Thursday over separate cost-cutting measures.

“His failure” was leftwing daily Liberation’s front-page headline, with a picture of Macron, whose term runs until 2027.

Meanwhile, the president is due to host a major international event on Saturday with the reopening of the Notre Dame Cathedral after the 2019 fire, with guests including Donald Trump on his first foreign trip since he was re-elected.