France’s Macron vows to stay in office until end of term, will name new PM soon

French President Emmanuel Macron has vowed to stay in office until the end of his term, due in 2027, and said on Thursday that he will name a new prime minister within days.

He said they chose “Not to do but to undo”. “They chose disorder,” he said. The president said the far-right and the far-left had united in what he called “an anti-Republican front” and stressed: “I won’t shoulder other people’s irresponsibility.” He said he would name a new prime minister within days but gave no hints as to who that might be.

Macron “took note” of Barnier’s resignation, the Elysee presidential palace said in a statement. Barnier and other ministers will be “in charge of current affairs until the appointment of a new government”, the statement said.

The no-confidence motion passed by 331 votes in the National Assembly, forcing Barnier to step down after just three months in office-the shortest tenure of any prime minister in modern French history.

Macron faces the critical task of naming a replacement capable of leading a minority government in a parliament where no party holds a majority. Yaël Braun-Pivet, president of the National Assembly and a member of Macron’s party, urged the president to move quickly.