President Macron dismissed calls for his resignation on Thursday and blamed France’s unprecedented political crisis on extremists seeking to provoke “disorder”.
In a televised address to the nation from the Golden Room of the Elysée Palace, Macron attributed the fall of Michel Barnier, his prime minister, to the “extreme right and the extreme left”, which he said had come together “not to do things but to undo them”.
Barnier, 73, the former Brexit negotiator for the EU, became the shortest-lived prime minister in recent French history when he was ousted on Wednesday in a confidence motion backed by the left and the populist right National Rally.
Michel Barnier delivered a speech before the confidence vote
SARAH MEYSSONNIER/REUTERS
Macron said opposition MPs were not interested in the concerns of ordinary families. Their only aim was to force