Paris: The leader of the right-wing National Rally party’s faction in the French parliament, Marine Le Pen, said she is not calling for the resignation of President Emmanuel Macron amid the resignation of his government and is ready to work with the new prime minister on a “fair budget.”
“We will give the new prime minister the opportunity to work. We will jointly develop – not only with the National Rally, but with all forces present in the National Assembly – a budget that will be acceptable to everyone, and this is the budget that will be applied for the French,” Le Pen said on the TF1 television channel.
She warned that the party will have a number of demands for the new prime minister.
At the same time, Le Pen said that she “is not calling for Macron’s resignation,” noting that the time for appointing a new prime minister is limited in light of the lack of a budget for next year.
“Emmanuel Macron must fulfill his duties, he will do what his mind and conscience dictate. He bears great responsibility for the current situation,” Le Pen said.
Earlier, the opposition said the 2025 budget presented by Prime Minister Michel Barnier is the “most brutal” in the history of the Fifth Republic.
Late on Wednesday, a majority of lawmakers in the French National Assembly backed a motion of censure against Barnier tabled by the left-wing France Unbowed party. 331 out of 577 lawmakers backed the motion.
The no-confidence vote forced Barnier to tender his resignation and his government was dissolved. It was the first French government to resign following a no-confidence vote since 1962 and the shortest-lived government in the history of the Fifth Republic.
UNI
