French parliament votes to oust prime minister, deepening political crisis

France’s parliament on Monday (September 8, 2025) ousted the government of Prime Minister Francois Bayrou after just nine months in office, leaving President Emmanuel Macron scrambling to find a successor and plunging the country into a new political crisis.

Mr. Bayrou, who has been in the job for just nine months, had blindsided even his allies by calling a confidence vote to end a lengthy standoff over his austerity budget, which foresees almost €44 billion ($52 billion) of cost savings to reduce France’s debt pile.

Mr. Bayrou, the first premier in the history of modern France to be ousted in a confidence vote rather than a no-confidence vote, will submit his resignation on Tuesday (September 9, 2025) morning, according to a person close to him who asked not to be named.