Bayrou government | |
|---|---|
 | |
| 46th Government of French Fifth Republic | |
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| Date formed | 13 December 2024 (2024-12-13) |
| Date dissolved | 9 September 2025 (2025-09-09) |
| People and organisations | |
| President of the Republic | Emmanuel Macron |
| Prime Minister | François Bayrou |
| No. of ministers | 35[a] |
| Member parties | |
| Status in legislature | Minority (Coalition) |
| History | |
| Election | 2024 French legislative election |
| Predecessor | Barnier government |
| Successor | First Lecornu government |
TheBayrou government (French:gouvernement Bayrou) was the forty-sixth government ofFrance. It was formed in December 2024 after PresidentEmmanuel Macron appointedFrançois Bayrou asPrime Minister on 13 December, replacing caretakerMichel Barnier (who had been removed from office by amotion of no-confidence).
François Bayrou was the fourth prime minister to hold the office in a single year, the most in the history of theFifth Republic.
The government included members ofEmmanuel Macron's coalition,Ensemble, as well asThe Republicans; despite its minority status, it survived a vote of no confidence on 16 January 2025 thanks to abstentions from theNational Rally and theSocialist Party.
The government was defeated in aconfidence vote on 8 September 2025 in theNational Assembly, with 364 deputies voting against confidence and 194 deputies voting in favour of confidence.[1]
Following gains by opposition parties inthe legislative elections called by PresidentEmmanuel Macron in the summer of 2024,Gabriel Attal resigned. Macron initially refused his resignation but accepted it on 16 July.[2] On 5 September, Barnier was appointed as prime minister by Macron.[3]
Barnier was faced with a National Assembly divided nearly evenly into three blocs: the left-wingNew Popular Front with a plurality of seats, Macron's centrist to centre-rightEnsemble, and the far-rightNational Rally.[3][4]
On 2 December 2024, Barnier invoked article49.3 of the French Constitution to adopt theSocial Security budget for 2025 without submitting it to a parliamentaryvote,[5] prompting both theNew Popular Front and theNational Rally to file motions of no confidence against his government.[6][7] On 4 December, three months into his tenure, theBarnier government collapsed by a vote ofno confidence inNational Assembly in a 331–244 vote.[8]
Prime Minister Michel Barnier then presented his government's resignation in the evening to the President of the Republic, who accepted it.[9] He ensured that current affairs were handled with the government pending the formation of a new government from 6 to 13 December.
After the resignation of the Barnier government, negotiations took place between the President of the Republic and the various parliamentary groups, with the exception of theLFI,RN andUDR. These discussions ledOlivier Faure,First Secretary of theSocialist Party, to consider a non-censorship agreement on the condition that the Prime Minister be left-wing.
Over the course of a week, various candidates were considered for the position ofPrime Minister, includingBernard Cazeneuve,Sebastien Lecornu,François Villeroy de Galhau,François Baroin,Roland Lescure and François Bayrou.
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After being rejected the day before on 12 December, Bayrou met the President at theÉlysée the following morning. At the end of a long, heated discussion (with fears of a break with theMoDem), Emmanuel Macron finally appointed him Prime Minister on 13 December 2024.[10] At 73 years old, he is the second oldest serving prime minister, after Michel Barnier, to come to power. He is also considered a loyal supporter of President Macron,[11] whom he supported in2017 presidential election.[12] He was nominatedMinister of State andJustice in thefirst Philippe Government, between May and June 2017.
François Bayrou was supported by the Macronist bloc, while being rejected by La France Insoumise, while the other left-wing parties and the far right were awaiting the measures taken by the Prime Minister.
Bayrou, in his speech, recalled the importance of social justice, republicanism, national reconciliation, the need to overcome a serious crisis that is ravaging Europe and France, and thanked Barnier for his work as prime minister. The case of corruption for embezzlement of European funds, of which Bayrou was acquitted in autumn 2023 due to lack of evidence, was widely reported in the media.
TheSocialist Party, in a letter to the new prime minister, asked him to give up applyingarticle 49.3 of the Constitution in exchange for no censure, announced that socialists members "will not participate in government and will therefore remain in opposition in Parliament", and blamed the President for "aggravating the political crisis".[13]
In the summer of 2025, Bayrou presented his budget plans, which were met with strong criticism from all elements of the political spectrum except for the Macron-affiliated parties. As several political forces began threatening to withdraw support, Bayrou refused to negotiate and instead called for a vote of confidence in his government underArticle 49.1, which he lost.[14]
Bayrou's replacement as prime minister wasSébastien Lecornu of theRenaissance party.[15][16]
| Question of confidence | ||
| Ballot → | 8 September 2025 | |
|---|---|---|
| Required majority → | 280 out of 573 N | |
194 / 573 | ||
364 / 573 | ||
15 / 573 | ||
| Source | ||
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| Presidency |
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| Elections |
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