Macron faces difficult choice after French PM resigns

France was thrown into fresh political turmoil on Monday after Prime Minister François Bayrou and his minority government collapsed after losing a crucial confidence vote in parliament, Euronews writes.

Bayrou — in office for less than a year — had staked his future on an unprecedented confidence vote, gambling that lawmakers would back his push for deep spending cuts to rein in France’s soaring debt. Instead, both the left and the far right seized the chance to bring him down.

Macron’s office confirmed that the president will accept Bayrou’s resignation on Tuesday and appoint a replacement “in the coming days.” Under France’s constitution, Bayrou can remain in a caretaker role until then, handling only routine matters.

France has already operated under caretaker governments twice in the past two years, between July and September 2024 after the resignation of Gabriel Attal’s government, and in December 2024 after the fall of Michel Barnier’s government.

Macron now has two options: appoint a new prime minister capable of surviving in France’s divided parliament, or dissolve the National Assembly and call snap elections. He has so far resisted the latter, but gridlock could eventually leave him little choice.

If Macron does opt for new elections, the constitution requires they be held within 20 to 40 days of dissolution. By tradition, the president would then be expected to appoint a prime minister from the party winning the largest number of seats, though constitutionally he is not bound to do so.

If a single party were to win an outright majority, however, the president would in practice be forced to name its leader as prime minister.