France is crumbling, crippled by strikes and riddled with debt, PM’s resignation is a total humiliation for Macron

TODAY, dignitaries from across the world will gather to marvel at the gleaming restoration of Paris’s magnificent Notre Dame Cathedral.

But as French President Emmanuel Macron proudly shows off the £580million rebuild, his country is crumbling around him.

Stroll for half an hour along the banks of the Seine from the historic place of worship and you will come to the National Assembly where, on Wednesday night, politicians staged a revolt against their two leaders.

Michel Barnier became France’s shortest-serving Prime Minister, lasting just three months before a no-confidence vote forced him to resign.

It was a total humiliation for Macron, who had picked the former European Union chief Brexit negotiator to push his controversial policies through the parliament.

The President must now find his sixth PM in seven years at a time when France is in the midst of a deepening crisis.

The second-biggest economy in Europe has €3.2trillion of debt — twice the EU limit.

Barnier’s fall is set to push up interest rates and bond markets are jittery.

On Thursday, much of France was crippled by another public sector strike, with hospital workers and air traffic controllers among the staff walking out and demos on the streets.

That evening, Macron dismissed calls for his resignation in a TV address.

He blamed the “extreme right and extreme left” for the crisis, adding that they had come together “not to do things but to undo them”.

‘Tired of showboating’

Today, he is sure to be all smiles as he welcomes US President elect Donald Trump to Notre Dame, which is reopening after a terrible fire destroyed its roof and spire in 2019.

But many French people are tired of their President’s showboating and want a leader who can rescue the nation from impending disaster.

Polling reveals two thirds of the population thought that Macron should resign if Barnier lost the confidence vote.

Both left-wing and right-wing politicians, who formed an alliance to oust the Prime Minister, want Macron out.

The far-right National Rally leader Marine Le Pen called for Presidential elections, saying: “Emmanuel Macron has attacked the foundation walls of the nation for the past seven years.”

And Jeremy Corbyn-style, far-left leader Jean-Luc Melenchon, of France Unbowed, said: “Even with another Barnier every three months, Macron will not last another three years.”

Macron has only himself to blame. His snap parliamentary election in June initiated the crisis — and it is one that is not going away.

Hung parliament

The result was a hung parliament, with the far-left, far-right and centrist blocs not gaining enough votes for an outright majority. This meant Macron had to appoint a Prime Minister.

And even though the centre-right Barnier was not elected, Macron made him PM — but there was always the danger the far left and far right could unite to block his policies.

Barnier, 73, was used to governing without the people’s mandate, having been appointed a European Commissioner in 1999.

Known in France as Babar, after the unflappable cartoon elephant, he displayed incredible hypocrisy when he unsuccessfully ran for the Presidency of France in 2022.

One of the key reasons the UK voted to leave the EU in 2016 was that many wanted to regain control of its borders. Commissioners had turned down requests by then PM David Cameron to restrict which of their citizens came into Britain.

Having been deeply critical of Brexit, Barnier then called for France to end freedom of movement because immigration had become “out of control”.

There was outrage this week when he proposed running roughshod over democracy again.

The vote of no confidence was called because neither far-right nor far-left deputies agreed with the PM’s £50billion budget cuts.

Veteran journalist Eric Brunet branded the debate “jaw-droppingly French”, adding: “No pragmatism. Just ideology. All the speeches were about values, extremes. Our whole discourse is disconnected from reality.”

After losing the vote by 57 per cent, Barnier said Macron could simply pass through his economic policies by presidential decree. That would lead to more protests.

This week’s industrial action is over cuts to public sector workers’ sick pay. Next week, farmers plan two days of action against a squeeze on their income.

Both Le Pen and the leftists opposed Barnier’s Budget because it was going to put off an inflation-linked increase to state pensions.

Even the smallest changes provoke a lively reaction.

Taxi drivers set off smoke bombs and fireworks during their “drive slow” protest against patients being asked to share rides to hospital.

But with government spending accounting for 57 per cent of France’s GDP, in comparison to 45 per cent in Britain, Macron is likely to continue with his plan to rein in public expenditure.

Some commentators have spoken of a debt crisis similar to Greece’s in the 2010s if austerity measures are not imposed.

Macron cannot call another election until July 2025 and will struggle to find a PM who will please enough MPs.

The crisis has serious implications for the EU, too. With Germany holding elections in February after its coalition collapsed, Europe’s two major powers are deeply distracted from important world events.

Domestic troubles

The EU needs strong leadership to deal with the advent of President Trump, the Ukraine war, Putin and the rise of Russia-sympathising leaders in Hungary, Slovakia and Romania. But its focus is weakened by domestic troubles.

In the meantime, the President has asked Barnier to stay on in a caretaker capacity, even though he has resigned as PM.

There is talk of Macron going further by imposing a “technocrat” government, which would do his bidding no matter what parliament thinks.

That would lead to a repeat of the so- called “yellow vest”, cost-of-living protests of 2018, when there were violent clashes between the police and citizens wearing high-visibility jackets.

One man, describing himself as a “yellow jacket”, was waiting outside the National Assembly for the result of the confidence vote.

Salvat, 55, from Chartres, near Paris, who didn’t give his second name, said: “I want Macron to go, but what we are witnessing today is just theatre. They are not taking care of the people.”

Unemployment in France is at 7.4 per cent, far higher than Britain’s 4.3 per cent, and is sure to keep rising.

Last month, tyres went up in flames when it emerged the famous manufacturer Michelin was to close two factories in France employing 1,250 staff. The no-confidence vote has only made matters worse.

French bonds and stocks were being sold off at an alarming rate, and borrowing costs spiralled.

Even before Barnier went, business confidence had fallen to its lowest in four years.

Macron can remain as President until 2027 and few people think he will fall on his sword.

Outside the Assembly, lawyer Marie Merger, 49, from Paris, predicted: “Macron will stay until the last minute.”

Le Pen is unlikely to push too hard for Presidential elections as the electorate knows she faces being barred from government.

The firebrand politician and some 20 party members are accused of creating £2.5million worth of fake European Parliament jobs.

She denies embezzlement charges but has to wait until the end of March for a court verdict. That leaves Macron free to play the international statesman at Notre Dame.

His guests are sure to be impressed, but security will stop the 50 heads of state from seeing homeless people huddled in doorways.

Macron, who wooed Trump when he was US President the first time, is hoping to win him over again.

For that reason, Barnier’s resignation is problematic.

Le Parisien’s front page on Thursday summed it up with the headline, “The Great Unknown”.

One source told The Sun: “It would be extremely embarrassing for France not to have a Prime Minister in place during such an important diplomatic weekend for the country.”

Not that you would know it from Macron, who only flew back into Paris from Saudi on the evening that Barnier became the first French PM to lose a no-confidence vote in 60 years.