Why is France’s article 49 back in the news and what is it?

French Prime Minister François Bayrou has announced he is asking MPs for a vote of confidence in his tenureship in an upcoming special parliamentary session. 

Mr Bayrou made the announcement that a special meeting of MPs would convene on September 8 for the prime minister to outline his political plan (politique générale). 

It will then be followed by a vote of confidence in the prime minister, based on the sometimes controversial Article 49 of the French constitution. 

If a majority of MPs (289 of the 577) vote against the prime minister, his cabinet will be toppled and President Emmanuel Macron will be forced to appoint a new prime minister. This would be his seventh, a joint record in the Fifth Republic. 

The prime minister is adamant that €43 billion needs to be saved in this year’s budget to fight spiralling debt. 

If Mr Bayrou is not ousted on September 8 it will be seen as a sign of tacit approval for the plans, and he will expect wider support in passing his budget.

The vote is not on the budget but on ‘the necessity of the overall (economic) plan’. However several parties have already said they will not vote in favour of the budget, and the far-right Rassemblement National, far-left La France Insoumise, and left-wing Ecologists have all said they will vote against Mr Bayrou on September 8. 

What is Article 49?

A basic overview of Article 49 and its main alinéa (sub-points) can be seen in the visual below. 

Article 49.1 allows a government to hold a special vote of confidence from MPs following a general political outline (politique générale) under the usual rules, with MPs needing an absolute majority of votes against the government to oust it.

This is usually used at the start of a prime minister’s tenure as a mark of legitimacy in their plans, and was most recently used by Edouard Philippe and Jean Castex, the last prime ministers to command an absolute majority of MPs in the Assemblée nationale. 

Mr Bayrou’s use of the measure is risky however, as his government does not have a majority of MPs, even counting the aligned right-wing Les Républicains group. 

If opposition MPs rally against the prime minister, the vote will oust him and his government, throwing France into political chaos immediately before a potential nationwide protest, called to be held on September 10. 

However, if Mr Bayrou survives the vote it should assist him in the upcoming debates on the 2026 budget, essentially he will be able to fall back on the vote as a mark of legitimacy in his plans and potentially strong-arm other parties in backing the budget. 

Several government ministers have backed the move, with Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin calling it “extremely courageous and very democratic.” 

Article 49.3 is better known – and more controversial

Article 49 is most commonly discussed in the media in reference to ‘49.3’, the section that gives the government the option to pass pieces of legislation without a vote from MPs. 

When used MPs have the option to motion a table of no confidence in the government, temporarily halting passage of the bill. 

Used more than 100 times by various prime ministers of the Fifth Republic, the motion has historically been used by governments with a majority of MPs in the Assemblée nationale to pass basic yearly legislation, such as annual tax threshold increases etc, without the administrative burden of requiring MPs to vote it through.

However, it gained prominence when used several times by then prime minister Elisabeth Borne, particularly to pass parts of an unpopular pension reform through parliament without a vote. 

Crucially at this time, the government did not have an absolute majority of MPs, meaning an alliance of opposing parties could have brought down the government and forced the legislation to be scrapped. 

However, the motions of no confidence (filed separately by the left and far-right) failed. 

In December 2024 the motion of no confidence that ousted former prime minister Michel Barnier was also initiated by the use of Article 49.3, this time in an attempt to pass through the 2024 budget without a vote. 

Mr Barnier had an even more fraught political chamber to work with following the 2024 legislative elections, relying on an alliance between Macronist MPs and the traditional right-wing bloc. 

However, these forces combined still fail to provide the government with an absolute majority. 

Crucially, the far-right voted in line with the far-left motion to topple Mr Barnier – even if a majority of MPs vote against the prime minister in multiple motions of no confidence, a majority must vote together in a single motion for it to pass. 

The vote on September 8 is theoretically easier for opposition MPs to vote on, as it is being brought forward by the government itself and not one of the opposition factions in the Assemblée. 

This could prevent tensions between the far-left and far-right over who should vote for whose motion (sometimes seen itself as a capitulation to the other group), and align them in toppling the government more easily. 

If Mr Bayrou survives the September 8 vote it is unlikely a motion of no confidence after this would pass, precisely for the reason above.

Article 49.2 states a motion of no confidence can be filed at any point provided at least 10% of MPs sign it. 

The prime minister said article 49.3 would not be used to pass the budget this year as it is “not tenable.”