What happened
French President Emmanuel Macron said Thursday he would name a new prime minister "in the coming days," after the National Assembly forced the resignation of Prime Minister Michel Barnier, and he rejected calls from opposition lawmakers to step down himself to facilitate an end to France's political gridlock.
Who said what
The far-right and leftist blocs in the National Assembly united Wednesday to oust Barnier in a no-confidence vote, making his three-month government the shortest in modern French history. Macron said the opposition parties had formed an "anti-Republican front" that "chose chaos" for their own political gains, adding, "I won't shoulder other people's irresponsibility." He insisted he would finish out his five-year term, which ends in 2027, and defended his decision to call July snap elections that led to his center-right block falling into the minority alongside two other mutually antagonistic blocs.
That "political instability in France — and simultaneously in Germany," where Chancellor Olaf Scholz is "limping along to a confidence vote later this month" after the collapse of his coalition in November — means "caretaker governments will now control two of the continent's most powerful economies," NPR said. That "could have wide-ranging consequences for European security" and "trans-Atlantic relations."
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What next?
Macron pledged to keep the France under current budget rules until the hung parliament can agree to a new budget in 2025. And he pointed to Saturday's grand reopening of Notre Dame Cathedral, saying its rapid reconstruction after a 2019 fire and last summer's Paris Olympics showed that France "can do big things."
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