French President Emmanuel Macron has said he will appoint a new prime minister in the coming days after the government was toppled by lawmakers.
Michel Barnier, a veteran conservative, became the shortest-serving prime minister in modern French history when he resigned on Thursday after parliament voted him out over his fiscal plans, barely three months after he was appointed.
In a televised address to the nation, Macron said he would name a successor to Barnier “in the coming days.”
“The priority will be the budget,” Macron said.
A special law to roll over the 2024 budget and avoid any gap will be put forward by mid-December. Then the new government will prepare a full budget early next year, in particular to account for inflation, for a vote by parliament.
Macron, whose ill-fated decision to call a snap ballot in June delivered a much-divided parliament, denied he was responsible for the political crisis.
The president, who represents a centrist party, said the far-right and left-wing parties united in an “anti-republican front” to create “a mess” by ousting Barnier.
Macron has been weakened by the crisis but resisted calls by some in the opposition for him to resign. He reaffirmed that he will stay in office until his term ends in May 2027.
“The mandate you have given me is for five years and I will fulfill it until the very end,” he said.
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