French Prime Minister Michel Barnier used the controversial Article 49.3 of the French Consitution to force the adoption of next year's social security budget plan. In retaliation, opposition parties from the left and far right are threatening his government with a no-confidence vote.
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00:00French Prime Minister Michel Barnier's government is hanging on by a thread.
00:09On Monday, Barnier decided to use the controversial Article 49.3 of the French Constitution to
00:15force the adoption of next year's social security budget.
00:19In retaliation, both the left-wing coalition, the NFP, and the far-right National Rally
00:24Party have announced that they will be filing separate motions to topple Barnier's government.
00:30The confidence vote could come as early as Wednesday.
00:34So what happens now?
00:35Well, either the motion is passed by the majority, bringing down the Barnier government, or it
00:39could be rejected and the social security bill will then be adopted and then sent to
00:44the Senate.
00:45However, the first option currently seems like the most plausible one, considering all
00:50four parties in the NFP coalition have declared that they will be voting this motion that's
00:56between 180 and 192 seats.
01:00The far-right and its allies have 141 seats.
01:04If all MPs from both groups vote to topple Barnier, well, they will have more than the
01:10289 seats necessary to do so.
01:14And if the government falls, it will be the first successful no-confidence vote since
01:191962, back when Charles de Gaulle was president.
01:23Sofia Katsenkova reporting from Paris for Euronews.