France to get 5th PM in less than 2 years as parliament votes to oust Francois Bayrou

PARIS: France's parliament voted Monday to bring down the govt over its plans to tame the ballooning national debt, deepening a political crisis and handing President Emmanuel Macron the task of finding a fifth prime minister in less than two years.

Francois Bayrou, 74, took office as prime minister only nine months ago. He will tender his resignation on Tuesday, his office said, leaving Macron to face a narrowing set of options, with financial markets signalling worry at France's political and fiscal crisis.

Bayrou had called the confidence vote unexpectedly to try to win parliamentary support for his strategy to lower a deficit that stands at nearly double the EU's 3% ceiling and to start tackling a debt pile equivalent to 114% of GDP. But opposition parties were in little mood to rally behind his planned savings of 44 billion euros ($51.51 billion) in next year's budget, with an election for Macron's successor looming in 2027. They forced Bayrou out, with 364 votes against him and only 194 backing him.

"This moment marks the end of the agony of a phantom government," far-right leader Marine Le Pen said, pushing for a snap parliamentary election, which Macron has so far ruled out. "Today is a day of relief for millions of French people, of relief over your departure," Mathilde Panot of the hard-left France Unbowed told Bayrou in the debate before the vote. The next govt's most pressing task will be to pass a budget - the same challenge Bayrou faced when he took office.