Already struggling with flat growth and a large debt and deficit, the country faces a new period of instability without a functioning government or a budget.

Michel Barnier is forced out as France's prime minister in a no-confidence vote. He was appointed after July’s inconclusive parliamentary election.

The government was sacked by parliament on December 4th. Its prime minister, Michel Barnier, had tried to force through his budget for 2025 two days earlier, but met the brutal reality of life without a majority and became the shortest-lived prime minister of the Fifth Republic.