French President Emmanuel Macron’s reopening of Notre Dame Cathedral was an objective to highlight unity. The president aimed to bring people together after the fire that harmed the historic building approximately 5 years ago. However, by the end of the week, the French government may face public violence. The trust of the people in France’s political process and in politicians follows a declining trend.
This time is tough for Macron. He is now facing many political challenges and instability. Most of these difficulties came due to his own inefficient decisions. His selection of the Prime Minister after the snap parliamentary election in June resulted in many ongoing complexities.
One of the risky moves by Macron was the selection of Michel Barnier as France’s Prime Minister in September. He is the former Brexit negotiator. Now Barnier faces many challenges such as a no-confidence vote. In French political history, he was one of the shortest-serving Prime Ministers.
Division of France’s political landscape
The political division in France is deep-rooted. And the left-wing coalition is becoming the dominant force. Tactical voting has successfully held back the rise of Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally party.
Macron failed to attain the maximum number of seats in the National Assembly. He has the purpose of forming a stable government. For it, he selected Michel Barnier as Prime Minister. Instead of choosing a left-wing official, he chose from the right wing. Despite knowing that Les Republicans performed poorly in the election, he gave power to Michel Barnier.
The left-wing party members strongly opposed Macron and said this was undemocratic. Many struggled to block Le Pen, ultimately gaining support for a less period.
With this favoritism, Barnier made bold promises related to electricity taxes and medication costs. But despite all of these promises, Le Pen decided to not give further support. After this information, the left-wing members decided to vote to remove Barnier from Prime Minister’s seat. Micheal did not successfully understand the Le Pen moves and failed to handle the political uncertainty in France.
Stronger position of Marine Le Pen
For the time being, Marine Le Pen‘s position has grown stronger. A breakthrough has been made by her National Rally party, which was long viewed as a threat to democracy because of its strong immigration views. Negotiations with the government recognized the party as a viable political actor for the first time in its 50-year history. The public’s displeasure with growing living expenses contributed to this change.
The National Rally argued that it was protecting its 11 million voters by opposing Barnier’s planned changes to social security. Supporters of Le Pen are angry with President Macron and anticipate that her party will overthrow his administration.
To preserve a consistent image, Barnier’s camp believed Le Pen would refrain from advocating for their removal. They thought she wouldn’t take the chance of starting a political crisis by causing the government to fall. Her increasing backing, though, suggests she might not have to hold back much longer.
Two major causes have put Marine Le Pen under a lot of pressure: her legal issues and the influence of far-right voters. If found guilty of misusing EU funds to pay employees in France, she might be disqualified from running for president of France in 2027. The prosecution has asked for a five-year ban from holding public office. In March 2025, a decision is anticipated, notwithstanding her denial of the accusations.
Despite political unrest, President Emmanuel Macron is still in office and has stated that he would not step down. 2027 marks the end of his mandate. Macron will have to choose a new prime minister to deal with a sharply split parliament if the existing administration falls. Budget considerations are made more difficult by the prohibition on holding new parliamentary elections before July 2025.
A “new era” was promised when Michel Barnier was hired, but he cautioned that the no-confidence vote was pushing France into uncharted terrain.
