Regime crisis in France: Bayrou falls, now Macron must go!

The ‘Bloquons tout’ mass movement precipitated the fall of French PM François Bayrou with its call to block everything on September 10.

On September 8, Bayrou raised the question of confidence at the National Assembly, that is, two days before ‘Bloquons tout’ had even gone into action.

As soon as Bayrou presented the 2026 intensified austerity budget in July, the ‘Bloquons tout’ mass movement erupted on social media. Over the summer, it gained incredible momentum.

Bayrou called for a parliamentary vote of confidence. He was defeated by 364 to 194. The defeat was a first stunning victory for a movement that had not even started, a movement which expresses the anger of the French people who, in the vast majority (87%), reject Bayrou’s austerity budget.

The September 10 ‘Bloquons tout’ movement was a success, with about half a million people joining a broad range of actions, demonstrations, pickets, and blockades all over France. ‘Bloquons tout’ has also planned to carry on.

The 2026 Budget and the So-Called French ‘Debt’

On July 15, the Prime Minister, Bayrou, announced the 2026 budget of €43.8 billion, which includes austerity measures. He recalled that France’s debt was €3300 billion. He drew a catastrophic picture, saying, “Every second the debt of France increases by 5000 euros… France has become the country in the world that spends the most public money.”

Among the measures announced by Bayrou that really shocked people were the abolition of two national holidays, a so-called ‘blank year’, that is, a freeze on social security, pension scales, and limiting the access to the health system of thirteen million patients with long-term conditions.

To justify these $44 billion cuts, Bayrou claimed France was near chaos due to debt, and they would have to resort to the IMF, that is, a disaster scenario in which the IMF was on the verge of taking control of the French economy.

In reality, France’s budget deficit is not out of control, and an IMF bailout is not needed. Supporters of austerity in France are engaged in scaremongering.

The Mobilizations of ‘Bloquons tout’

Bayrou’s blackmail about the debt did not convince people that they should once again submit to more austerity. They have had enough. In the eight years of the Macron presidency, the economic, social and ecological degradation have peaked. Inflation has drastically reduced living standards. Many workers have lost their jobs. Poverty has drastically increased [1.2 million more people since 2017], and now 15.4% of people live below the poverty line. In addition, 350,000 people are homeless, with 2000 children, including newborn babies, living on the streets. Public services have been under constant attack. All this while the wealthiest not only saw their taxes diminished or erased, they also received financial help from the state.

Even if the Macronists chose Bayrou’s fall to curb and disarm the growing mobilization for September 10, they failed.

When Bayrou announced his budget, a movement of angry citizens, on the model of the Gilets Jaunes, started to organize through the social networks. Through the whole summer, it spread and grew, with an unprecedented level of self-organization. Telegram groups were set up on a regional basis, but people soon realized they needed to meet physically in big general meetings to prevent the far right from joining in. The meetings established an antiracist prerequisite for joining, and by meeting in person, it was easier to identify who was who. Activists were also very aware that some information could not be given in the Telegram groups.

The aim of the movement is to block the economy. Strikes are one method, but some can’t afford to. But everybody can do something. ‘Bloquons tout’ envisages a long-term movement that does not stop after days of action. The proposals were to organize pickets, strikes or blockades, for example, not spending money on September 10, not using bank cards, blocking roads and trucks for merchandise, transportation or logistics like Amazon. And for others to organize support for activists, e.g., free meals.

‘Bloquons tout’ is a movement from the bottom, which, unlike the Gilets Jaunes, is open to everybody, including political or social activists and trade unionists who help with their experience, as long as they don’t take over the leadership.

Many lessons have been drawn from previous mass mobilizations, such as les Gilets Jaunes and also the 2023 movement against the raising of the state pension to age sixty-four. Despite those huge mobilizations, Macron is still there.

Another lesson is the experience of the high level of state repression. With the Gilets Jaunes, the police shot rubber bullets that resulted in forty yellow vests losing an eye, six losing one hand and many other serious injuries. Therefore, ‘Bloquons tout’ has been preparing legal teams to help with the predictable detentions and aid from paramedics in response to police violence.

Contrary to the government and the media predictions that September 10 would be a flop, it was a real success. Nearly 500,000 participated, while the government had estimated only 100,000. There were 849 actions – 596 were rallies and 253 were blockades. The university student protests were 80,000 strong, and 150 high schools were blockaded. On the evening of the 10th, general meetings were held all over France (including 5000 in Paris and 2000 in Lyon). They decided to carry on the movement through different actions and new blockades.

The media and the government predicted ultra-left violence from ‘Bloquons tout’. The latter deployed 80,000 police officers. But on the contrary, it was a very peaceful mobilization. The only violence came from the police, who attacked the demonstrators and the pickets and arrested many young people.

Some labor unions joined the call of ‘Bloquons tout’ on September 10, as did the political left. In the end, the alliance of all labor unions decided to call for a day of strike action on September 18, prompted by this big mobilization. Thursday, September 18, is the second national day of action. Meanwhile, ‘Bloquons tout’ is organizing and attempting to convince more people to join.

According to the communist newspaper l’Humanité, 74% of the population is in favor of strike action.

Macron Must Go

After Bayrou’s fall, Macron immediately nominated a new PM, Sébastien Lecornu. It is interesting to notice how fast this went compared to the nomination of the last two PMs, and it shows the degree to which the government is afraid. Not only will Lecornu pursue the same Macronist orientation, but as former defense minister, he has carried on Macron’s line – first on the sale of military armaments to the genocidal regime of Israel and secondly Lecornu was at the meeting which agreed that European military budgets should reach 5% of the GDP which means 195 billion euros, that is a total submission to Trump’s rule.

Fundamentally, Lecornu is in the same unstable position as Bayrou and Barnier were, who both had to resign. Therefore, he is expected to fall, whether it takes weeks or months. Already, two-thirds of the population are saying he should leave.

Macron is responsible for the chaos in France. He is hanging on to power, although he has lost legitimacy. In the 2017 presidential election, 33% voted for him in the first round; his support has now fallen to 15%.

Macron is also paving the way for the RN to take power. His Interior Minister, Bruno Retailleau [leader of Les Républicains, the conservative party], has the same rotten and racist rhetoric as the RN, and has been implementing many attacks on migrants. Throughout this year, Macron and Retailleau have not stopped giving assurances to the RN, although the president has always presented himself as the last bulwark against the RN in order to win elections. But it has become evident that Macron’s main enemy is rather LFI. Lecornu, the new PM, is also close to the RN, as is a growing part of the Les Républicains conservative party.

Dissolution of the National Assembly in July 2024: Macron’s Big Mistake

The degradation of the political situation started in July 2024 when Macron decided to dissolve the National Assembly after his disastrous 15% result in the European elections. The RN came first with 31%, and the left were divided. The RN’s support has grown with their racist rhetoric by presenting migrants as the cause of the economic crisis. Much of the LR’s electoral base has shrunk and is moving to the RN.

Macron undoubtedly thought the division of the left was the right moment to have a coalition government with some RN members in it.

Unfortunately for Macron, his calculation went wrong. Under the impulse of La France Insoumise, the left very quickly united under the banner of the New Popular Front NPF, and against the far right. Therefore, despite all the polls that is 27, predicting they would lose, the NPF came first. This was a shock.

Macron decided to ignore the results of the vote and appointed Michel Barnier from the LR, the party that got the least votes at the elections, as PM.

Barnier proposed an austerity program of $40 billion cuts. LFI proposed instead a counter program to generate around $40 billion of new income for the state, which was broadcast everywhere. Barnier, in his budget, had refused to abolish the law imposing pension age increase to 64, which 92% of the working population were opposed to and which had unleashed huge mobilizations. Consequently, the RN had no choice but to vote for the no-confidence motion against him proposed by the left. Barnier fell. He was replaced by Bayrou.

The lesson Macron drew from this sequence was the absolute necessity to divide the NPF. Bayrou therefore attracted the Socialist Party into a trap of so-called ‘negotiations’ in exchange for the promise not to censure the government anymore. In so doing, the SP broke their commitment to the program of the NFP that allowed them to be elected as MPs in the previous election. It was the unity of the left in the NFP that rescued the SP from the disastrous position they were in after the 2022 presidential election. [LFI 22% – Greens 4.6% Communist Party 2.3% Socialist Party 1.7%]

LFI is adamant that what comes first is the program. The negotiations and little arrangements with Bayrou on an austerity plan are obviously in utter contradiction with the NFP program. Nevertheless, and despite six refusals to vote no-confidence against Bayrou each time he imposed his measures without a vote using Article 49.3, the SP had at last to face reality – Bayrou’s promises were just lies. After six months, the Socialist Party eventually proposed a no-confidence motion.

As regards the RN, which claims to be close to the people, they are more and more revealing their true nature as a prop of capital. They supported Bayrou in exchange for their racist agenda being promoted and implemented by Retailleau.

Thanks to the SP and RN, who did not vote for six no-confidence motions each time Bayrou used the 49.3 to impose his attacks on the population, the PM remained in office.

Consequently, six months were lost until ordinary people decided to fight back themselves.

Due to the undemocratic use of presidential decrees, the struggle in parliament was unable to defeat Macron’s policy of austerity. Finally, July saw an upsurge of mass national opposition outside of parliament. The first development was a petition against the Duplomb law allowing the use of pesticides in agriculture, which received in about two weeks more than two million signatures. It was launched by a young female student and got the support of another woman who has cancer and shouted in the National Assembly, ‘you are allies of cancer and we will make that known’. It was followed by the national ‘Bloquons tout’ movement erupting onto the national scene.

Crisis of the Regime

The issue at stake is more than short-term. Indeed, Macron is desperately and stubbornly hanging on to power. But what is at stake is more institutional: the 5th Republic is not working anymore.

The 5th Republic was set up in 1958 when decolonization was underway and in the midst of the Algerian War of Independence from French imperialism. De Gaulle used it to put an end to the parliamentary regime of the 4th Republic. Parliament could never establish a majority government, making it impossible to get a united and stable government. As many MPs were in favor of independence for Algeria, there was an attempted coup led by far-right army officers. They called on De Gaulle to come back to power. He agreed but asked for a new constitution. The latter reinforced the executive powers of the President, while a parliament still existed. It is thanks to the 1958 constitution that Macron and his government could endlessly bypass the National Assembly in recent years.

In one way, we are back to the 4th Republic: no political group has an absolute majority. And the 1958 Constitution, by giving a predominant role to the president, means that Macron can decide many things alone.

Macron has abused his constitutional rights as no president has done during the 5th Republic. He resorted more than forty times to Article 49.3, bypassing parliament and imposing his policies by decree. Now the people are fed up and have started to move. As Mélenchon said, Bayrou fell, and now it is Macron who is on the front line against the people.

What Next?

The discontent in France is general and has been building up for years. Small measures like keeping the national holidays or that PMs will not have a chauffeur for life but only for 10 years won’t quench it!

This is a historical moment, as Mélenchon said. Two-thirds of the National Assembly voting against a PM is unprecedented in the 5th Republic, and no dialogue with Macron, as the SP proposed, will work. The SP continues to be overwhelmed by an internal crisis after the Hollande presidency. The right wing of the party was reinforced thanks to the NPF, which allowed them to have more MPs. But as Hollande said, the role of social democracy in a time of turmoil is to ensure stability. Concretely, it has meant betraying its commitment against austerity in the NPF and preventing Macron and his government from being overthrown. After Bayrou fell, they hurriedly proposed to form a coalition cabinet, without LFI, with a plan of austerity of $22 billion rather than the $44 billion proposed by Bayrou. But Macron was not even interested.

LFI has repeatedly said that nothing will be improved by changing Prime Ministers – Macron is the problem. Only new presidential elections will break the deadlock.

As Jean-Luc Mélenchon recently explained, “We will not support any other government than our own. [The LFI]. We are not here to make a career, to be minister of this or that. Our goal is to decide what must be done: how do we develop the country? It is the program which matters. This is why we need a presidential election.”

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