Vote of confidence: “We have definitely left the happy Fifth Republic”

The fall of François Bayrou, following his general policy statement on Monday, September 8, was entirely predictable. In a parliamentary system, a government without a majority is a living dead body. François Bayrou simply affixed the date of his choice to an obituary that could have been written as soon as his government was inaugurated.

But since, until now, this government has escaped censure, it is as if no one had expected it. The Prime Minister's decision to engage the government's responsibility has finally achieved the feat of being both inevitable and untimely. His ministers did not even try to hide their surprise, even though the Constitution tells us that the declaration of general policy must be preceded by a deliberation of the Council of Ministers. We can see how formal this requirement has become...

As the isolated leader of a heterogeneous and minority government, François Bayrou has also made no great effort to reach out to opposition forces with whom deals might have been possible. How, then, can we not draw a parallel between this suicidal declaration of general policy on September 8 and the dissolution, no less solitary and self-destructive, announced by Emmanuel Macron in June 2024?

Both decisions reflect a curious role reversal. Since 2017, President Macron has sought to be his own prime minister, intervening in every detail of domestic and foreign policy. The "real" prime minister has been relegated to the background and transformed into the president's super-chief of staff.

This position of "prime minister of his own accord" became difficult to sustain after 2022, since Emmanuel Macron no longer had a majority. It has become frankly untenable since the dissolution. Conversely, Michel Barnier and especially François Bayrou have behaved like second-in-command presidents, claiming to govern without consulting the President of the Élysée Palace or being accountable to him.

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