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French government collapses in no-confidence vote
The French government has collapsed after Prime Minister Michel Barnier was ousted in a no-confidence vote.
MPs voted overwhelmingly in support of the motion against him – just three months after he was appointed by President Emmanuel Macron.
Opposition parties had tabled the motion after the former Brexit negotiator controversially used special powers to force through his budget without a vote.
It marks the first time the country’s government has collapsed in a no-confidence vote since 1962. The development will further France’s political instability, after snap elections in summer led to no single group having a majority in parliament.
MPs were required to either vote yes or abstain from Wednesday’s vote, with 288 votes needed for the motion to pass. A total of 331 voted in support of the motion.
Barnier is now obliged to present the resignation of his government, and the budget which triggered his downfall is defunct.
However, he is likely to stay on as caretaker prime minister while Macron chooses a successor.
Both the left and far right had tabled motions of no-confidence after Barnier pushed through reforms to social security by invoking presidential decree on Monday, after failing to win enough support for the measures.
The left-wing alliance New Popular Front (NFP), which won the most seats in the parliamentary elections, had previously criticised Macron’s decission to appoint centrist Barnier as prime minister over its own candidate.
Alongside the far right National Rally [RN] it deemed Barnier’s budget – which included €60bn (£49bn) in deficit reduction – unacceptable.
Marine Le Pen, the RN leader, said the budget was “toxic for the French”.
Ahead of the vote, Barnier told the National Assembly that voting him out of office would not solve the country’s financial problems. “We have reached a moment of truth, of responsibility,” he said, adding that “we need to look at the realities of our debt”. “It is not a pleasure that I propose difficult measures.”
In an interview with French broadcaster TF1 on Wednesday, Le Pen said there was “no other solution” than to remove Barnier.
Asked about the French president’s prospects, she replied: “I am not asking for the resignation of Emmanuel Macron.”
However, Le Pen added that “if we do not respect the voice of voters and show respect for political forces and respect for elections”, then pressure on the president will “obviously be stronger and stronger”.
Macron, who has returned to France following a state visit to Saudi Arabia, is due to give a televised speech to the nation on Thursday evening. He is not directly affected by the result of the vote, as France votes for its president separately from its government.
Macron had said he would not resign whatever the outcome of Wednesday’s vote.
He is expected to name a new prime minister swiftly to avoid the embarrassment of a non-existent government – not least because US President-elect Donald Trump is due in Paris this weekend for the reopening of the Notre-Dame cathedral.
No new parliamentary elections can be held until July, so the current deadlock in the Assembly – where no group can hope to have a working majority – is set to continue.
[BBC]
European leaders, including in France and Germany, have announced they are working on a plan in the event the United States follows through on its threat to take over Greenland as tensions soar.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told France Inter radio on Wednesday that while nations want to act if the US moves to seize Greenland from an ally, Denmark, they want to do so “together with our European partners”.
“I myself was on the phone with the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio yesterday. He discarded the idea that what just happened in Venezuela could happen in Greenland,” Barrot said.
On Saturday, the United States – using fighter jets, attack helicopters, and special forces – abducted Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro, bringing him to New York City to be tried for alleged drug trafficking.
US President Donald Trump’s decision to greenlight the abduction of Maduro led to widespread condemnation and fear that Greenland, which the president has previously said should be part of Washington’s security apparatus, could be forcibly taken.
But since then, European allies have rallied behind Greenland’s sovereignty, saying the country belongs to its people.
Johannes Koskinen, chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee of Finland’s parliament, called for the issue to be raised within NATO.
“[Allies should] address whether something needs to be done and whether the United States should be brought into line in the sense that it cannot disregard jointly agreed plans in order to pursue its own power ambitions,” he said.
Denmark’s Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen and his Greenlandic counterpart, Vivian Motzfeldt, requested an urgent meeting with Rubio to discuss the situation.
“We would like to add some nuance to the conversation,” Rasmussen wrote in a social media post. “The shouting match must be replaced by a more sensible dialogue. Now.”
Denmark has warned that any move to take Greenland by force would mean “everything would stop”, including NATO and 80 years of close security links.
Greenland’s government will join a meeting between Rubio and Danish officials next week following renewed US claims on the Arctic island, its foreign minister said on Wednesday.
The European Union will support Greenland and Denmark when needed and will not accept violations of international law no matter where they occur, European Council President Antonio Costa said.
“On Greenland, allow me to be clear: Greenland belongs to its people. Nothing can be decided about Denmark and about Greenland without Denmark or without Greenland,” Costa said in a speech.
“The European Union cannot accept violations of international law – whether in Cyprus, Latin America, Greenland, Ukraine, or Gaza. Europe will remain a firm and unwavering champion of international law and multilateralism.”
Greenland – the world’s largest island, with a population of 57,000 people – is located between Europe and North America. Since 2019, during Trump’s first term, the president has raised the idea of controlling Greenland, saying it would benifit US security.
So far, Trump has not ruled out using force to take the island.
Rubio told reporters on Wednesday that Trump’s intention is to buy Greenland. “That’s always been the president’s intent from the very beginning.”
House US House Speaker Mike Johnson said he hasn’t heard talk of sending the military into Greenland and the US is “looking at diplomatic channels”.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump and his national security team have “actively discussed” the option of buying Greenland.
“He views it in the best interest of the United States to deter Russian and Chinese aggression in the Arctic region. And so that’s why his team is currently talking about what a potential purchase would look like,” Leavitt told reporters.
Neither Leavitt nor Rubio ruled out the use of force. But Leavitt said, “The president’s first option, always, has been diplomacy.”
[Aljazeera]
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Landslide early warnings issued to the Districts of Badulla, Kandy, Matale and Nuwara Eliya
The Landslide Early Warning Center of the National Building Research Organisation [NBRO] has issued landslide early warnings to the districts of Badulla, Kandy, Matale and Nuwara Eliya for the next 24 hours commencing at 1200hrs today [08]
Accordingly
LEVEL II AMBER landslide early warnings have been issued to the Divisional Secretaries Divisions and surrounding areas of Ududumbara in the Kandy District, Wilgamuwa in the Matale District, and Nildandahinna and Walapane in the Nuwara Eliya District.
LEVEL I YELLOW landslide early warnings have been issued to the Divisional Secretaries Divisions and surrounding areas of Meegahakiwula, Welimada, Kandaketiya, Lunugala, Badulla, Passara, Uva Paranagama and Hali_Ela in the Badulla District, Ambanganga Korale in the Matale District, and Mathurata and Hanguranketha in the Nuwara Eliya District.
Greenland allies vow action if Trump moves to seize world’s largest island
Landslide early warnings issued to the Districts of Badulla, Kandy, Matale and Nuwara Eliya
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