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00:00The French Parliament has voted to debate a resolution to impeach President Emmanuel Macron.
00:05The impeachment bid was tabled by the left-wing Group of France Unbowed after President Macron
00:11excluded the left's candidate for Prime Minister and put forward instead Michel Barnier. But it's
00:17an initiative that has very little chance of being approved in Parliament. Joining me now from Bath
00:22University is French politics specialist Benoit Dillet. Benoit, thanks for your time.
00:28What are the chances of this bid actually succeeding?
00:33Thank you very much for having me. This bid has very little chance to pass. I think it is more
00:39to do with gesture politics at the moment. What we are witnessing is a very volatile
00:45situation in France. There's a clear reconfiguration of the different political
00:50parties and alliance. And this is only one more sign that things are changing a lot in France
00:56at the moment. And you talk there about the fact that it has become such a volatile political
01:02scene, you know, not only a possible impeachment, but the risk of no confidence motions,
01:08preparation, of course, for the 2027 presidential elections. It doesn't bode well, does it?
01:15No. So we have witnessed a very long summer without a Prime Minister in France,
01:19which is totally unprecedented. There was a vacuum of power. All sides were on different
01:24candidates. It was a little bit very, very difficult for the French citizens really
01:30watching French politics unfolding. Macron has been far too involved in party politics,
01:34and it makes him very deeply unpopular as well. And as you mentioned, there are risks of no
01:39confidence motions in the next 12 months. How has this impeachment bid exposed divisions
01:46within the French left? That's a very good question. I think it's
01:50too early to say. I think the left for now has been really, really united. I think it's been
01:57disunited for the media and the media has been really trying to create divisions in the left.
02:03But we need to really remember that the left has never been so united than in recent years,
02:10in the last two years, especially this year, when really in front of what Macron has done
02:15by dissolving the parliament. But it also leaves new Prime Minister
02:19Michel Barnier in an incredibly difficult position, doesn't it?
02:24Yes, that's right. So Barnier is, it was a bit of a surprise. In a way, Barnier managed to come
02:31to power by having a tacit agreement with the far right. So it's tacit because it's not hasn't
02:36really been explicit. But what we have seen is the far right party, the RN, decided basically not to
02:45vote the no confidence motion. So we can see that there is a tacit, basically, alliance with
02:51the far right at the moment. And this is a little bit, if you want, a preview to what is coming for
02:56the next two years in preparation for the 2027 presidential election.
03:01But coming back to the French voter, and the French citizen, I mean, what does this all mean
03:07for the governance of the country? I mean, the fact we haven't even had a budget being passed
03:12yet.
03:14Yes, that's a very good point. I think what we are witnessing, as I said, the situation is volatile,
03:19the institutions are in crisis, and we're not really clear. For instance, I just give one
03:25example, Dominique de Villepin, who was a Gaullist and very much part of the Conservative Party
03:29before, was at a Communist festival last weekend. And he was applauded by the left for criticising
03:35Macron so much, some of the things for giving. Barnier, who was, he said that he was basically
03:42Conservative Party arrived last in parliamentary elections, and now they're governing. So there's
03:47a real problem of trust and confidence and legitimation. Yes, you're right.
03:54We're going to have to leave it there. Benoît Delay from Bath University,
03:57thank you again for your time.
03:58Thank you very much. Bye.