A bid to impeach French President Emmanuel Macron was rejected by the Assemblée nationale today, October 8, after being introduced earlier this summer by far-left MPs.
The motion, which would see Mr Macron forced from office and new presidential elections held, was signed by 104 MPs from parties across the left.
However, a majority vote from members of the Bureau de l’Assemblée nationale declared it inadmissible, meaning it will not be put forward to the wider chamber.
This was expected, given the bureau comprised five left-leaning MPs from the La France Insoumise, The Greens, and Socialists, 10 members of the current governing alliance between Macronist/centrist parties and the right wing Les Républicains, and five far-right MPs.
All five left-wing MPs voted in favour of bringing the motion to the Assemblée nationale, the centrist MPs voted against and the far-right MPs abstained.
President Macron looks set to stay
However, even if the motion had passed this hurdle it would be unlikely to gain the required support.
An impeachment against the president requires three-fifths of MPs and three-fifths of Senators to vote in favour.
While a combined vote from left, far-left, and far-right MPs could theoretically pass it through the Assemblée nationale, such a vote would almost certainly fail in the Senate, which is centre and right-wing dominated, with relatively few members of the more fringe parties present.
It means the only way the president will leave his post early is if he resigns or if a future impeachment motion receives more support.
The president has not addressed the nation since Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu announced his resignation on Monday but has repeatedly said he will not resign before the end of his second term in 2027.
The left – and some former centrist allies such as Mr Macron’s first prime minister Edouard Philippe - are calling for him to resign.
The far-right Rassemblement National is not however, and is instead calling for the president to dissolve parliament for new MP elections to take place.
This may be due to the current ban on far-right figure Marine Le Pen running for public office.
An appeal against the ban will be heard early next year, and if she is cleared, will see her able to run in a spring 2027 presidential election (the current date it is scheduled to take place).
Update amid political chaos
The resignation of Sébastien Lecornu on Monday after a record-short stint of 27 days as prime minister plunged France into a fresh political crisis.
Mr Macron initially accepted the resignation, but has given Mr Lecornu until the end of today to attempt to find a compromise with other parties.
This includes members of the right-wing Les Républicains, part of the current governing alliance, who threatened to end support for the new prime minister following the announcement of his cabinet on Sunday night, leading in part to his resignation.
A last-ditch meeting between the Socialist Party and Mr Lecornu was held this morning as the resigning prime minister looked to gain enough support to overturn his resignation and re-assume his position.
Mr Lecornu was reportedly willing to offer to overturn the controversial 2023 pension reforms to gain Socialist backing.
However, Socialist Party leader Olivier Faure, speaking after the meeting, said that Mr Lecornu and his allies refused to give enough ‘assurances’ that the pension reform would be overturned, and that the party is therefore unwilling to officially join forces with the government.
Any agreement with the Socialists would also require Les Républicains MPs to continue backing the centrist fold, as replacing the 50 right-wing MPs with the 68 Socialists in the chamber would still not give Mr Lecornu a majority.
Mr Lecornu will meet with the Greens and Communists later today.
A failure for parties to work together was one of the reasons he cited in his resignation speech on Monday.
The far-right Rassemblement National has refused to meet him.
Ms Le Pen said today she will ‘censure’ (vote against) everything the government does, or against any future governing alliance put in place without a dissolution of the Assemblée nationale and new legislative elections.
She did not clarify if this meant simply levying a motion of no confidence or supporting the motions of other parties.
Both the far-left and far-right need to vote on the same motion to depose a prime minister (as they did against Michel Barnier), but groups are generally unwilling to back the motion of the other.
Enough support to pass a 2026 budget?
It may be that the prime minister will find just enough support to pass the 2026 budget and avoid an unprecedented second year where a budget fails to be passed on time, with re-evaluation of the political situation at the start of 2026.
In a press conference today, Mr Lecornu said there is ‘optimism’ that political parties are willing to work together to pass a budget.
If enough common ground can be found, this pushes back the prospect of dissolving the Assemblée nationale and holding new elections, he said.
Sources close to Mr Macron said on Tuesday the president has not discussed the prospect of dissolving the chamber.
“It must not happen because dissolution is costly; it would bring our country to a complete standstill,” said head of the Assemblée Nationale and Macron ally Yaël Braun-Pivet.
Despite Mr Lecornu’s comments this situation remains unlikely as all potential parties that could back the government’s budget have ‘red lines’ they seem unwilling to cross, some of which come into direct conflict with their values.
