In December 2023, the Borne government faced a governability and credibility crisis. It was caused mainly by the difficult passage of the 2023 immigration and asylum bill, one of Emmanuel Macron's flagship manifesto commitments made during the 2022 presidential election.
The immigration reform bill was a draft legislation introduced in Parliament on 1 February 2023 by Interior MinisterGérald Darmanin. It was received negatively by opposition parties, in particular by the conservative Republicans (LR) who both hold a majority in the Senate and the balance of power in the National Assembly. The bill, whose legislative process was stalled for many months, was unexpectedly defeated in the National Assembly on 11 December, ultimately leading to Darmanin offering his resignation and Macron sending the bill to a joint parliamentary committee. The conservative-dominated joint committee agreed on a much tougher bill which earned the surprise endorsement of Marine Le Pen, causing confusion and anger inside Macronist ranks.
Several ministers, in a major breach of collective ministerial responsibility, openly threatened to resign if the bill was passed, while scores of MPs from the three Macronist parliamentary groups in the Assembly, including joint committee chair and prominent left-leaning figure inside Macron's camp Sacha Houlié, announced they would vote against the bill.
After the bill was passed on 19 December, Health Minister Aurélien Rousseau immediately resigned to protest against it. Meanwhile Higher Education Minister Sylvie Retailleau offered her resignation to protest measures affecting foreign students but remained in post after Macron gave her reassurances. Other ministers publicly voiced their opposition to the bill but did not act further on it.
In early January 2024, in spite of earlier public statements in which she expressed her intention to carry on as Prime minister, Borne reluctantly resigned at Macron's request. Borne remained as caretaker PM until Education Minister Gabriel Attal, the most popular figure in the outgoing Borne ministry, was appointed as PM on 9 January. He then formed a minority government from which he and Macron sacked the near-entirety of ministers who had rebelled in late December 2023.
A month into its tenure, the Borne government lost its parliamentary majority in the June 2022 legislative election: the governing coalition remained the largest bloc in the National Assembly but now fell well short of an overall majority in the lower house.[2] In spite of calls for Borne to resign as PM and the refusal from opposition parties to discuss a coalition agreement, Macron refused Borne's resignation offer and instead tasked her with forming a minority government.[3] In early July, Borne survived the first motion of no confidence tabled against her government.
In August 2022, Interior and Overseas Minister Gérald Darmanin announced that the government would introduce an immigration bill in the autumn of that year after consulting with opposition parties.[4] After consultations highlighted the lack of a majority for the bill's passage, the bill's introduction was again delayed to early 2023.
In early February 2023, the immigration & asylum bill was introduced in the Senate after it was approved by the Council of Ministers:[5] a few weeks later, the bill's passage was halted after the government narrowly survived a no-confidence motion over its pension reform plan.[6]
In the aftermath of the political crisis triggered by the pension reform, various polls pointed to a sharp decline in the executive pair's popularity[7] while Le Pen's RN party extended its polling lead over Macron's coalition ahead of the upcoming 2024 European elections.[8] By the time of the final vote on the immigration bill, the RN had opened a 12-point lead over the Macronist alliance, the widest gap since Macron was first elected in 2017.[9]
Parliament
After months of gridlock, the government finally introduced back the draft legislation in the Senate in November 2023: the conservative-controlled upper house substantially toughened the bill, with the Interior Minister's support on several occasions. The Senate passed the heavily amended bill in first reading on 14 November.[10]
On 27 November 2023, the bill began its process in the National Assembly: the Macronist-led Law Committee thoroughly amended the Senate-approved draft, stamping out or lessening the majority of the upper house's changes.[11] On 11 December 2023, the report stage in the National Assembly began with a vote on a preliminary dismissal motion tabled by Green MPs: the motion was unexpectedly passed in a 270–265 vote, meaning the bill was defeated without further consideration in the lower house.[12]
The vote, marking the first time a sitting government was defeated on such motion in 15 years, effectively plunged the executive branch into crisis.[13] Darmanin offered his resignation to Macron later in the evening, but Macron refused it. RN party leader Jordan Bardella called on the President to dissolve the National Assembly while left-wing opposition parties called on the government to ditch the draft legislation.[14]
After the vote, the Prime minister convened her cabinet for a crisis meeting to seek a way forward, ultimately leading to the decision to send the bill to a conservative-dominated joint parliamentary committee rather than ditching the bill or sending it back to the Senate.[15]
Borne, now the de facto chief negotiator with The Republicans (LR) over the immigration legislation, met with LR leaders on multiple occasions both ahead of and during the joint committee stage: despite difficult talks and divisions inside the Macronist camp between left and right-leaning members, the negotiations led to a last-minute two-chapter agreement between the government and LR leadership.[16][17]
In the first part of this informal deal, the government would agree to support major LR-endorsed changes to the bill, ditching many previous red lines and getting the final bill closer to the version passed by the Senate. In the second part of the deal, the Prime minister solemnly promised that the government would overhaul the controversial "State Medical Assistance" (AME) system, a mechanism allowing illegal migrants to access Social Security-funded medical care on conditions, in a separate bill.[18] The scope of the concessions made to the right created concern for a number of Macronist MPs and party grandees.
On 19 December, the joint committee agreed on a drastically hardened bill, with measures limiting foreigners' access to social benefits, reforming Jus soli, restricting family reunification procedures and the implementation of a "return deposit" for foreign students coming from outside the EU among other things.[19]
Immediately after the finalized version of the bill was made public, parliamentary RN party leader Marine Le Pen hailed an "ideological victory" and announced that her MPs would support the legislation in the National Assembly.[20] Le Pen's decision prompted panic and confusion inside Macron's ranks, with large swathes of centrist MPs, already set off-balance by the deal struck with the conservatives, now refusing to vote along Le Pen on immigration matters.[21]
Additionally, prominent left-leaning ministers, such as Culture Minister Rima Abdul-Malak, Health Minister Aurélien Rousseau or Transports deputy minister Clément Beaune among others, reportedly met in the evening of the 19 December and threatened to resign if the bill was passed later that day.[22]
After convening a crisis meeting at the Élysée Palace, President Macron, advised to do so by close ally and MoDem party leader François Bayrou, tried to reassure his troops by announcing that he would not sign the bill into law, instead sending it back later to Parliament, if the legislation was approved thanks to RN votes in the National Assembly.[23]
In the evening of the 19 December 2023, both houses of Parliament passed the immigration & asylum bill, 214–114 in the Senate and then 349–186 in the National Assembly. In the lower house, 59 Macronist MPs (almost a quarter of the centrist coalition's MPs) defied the government either by abstaining (32) or voting against it (27), the largest parliamentary rebellion against a sitting government since the 1970s.[24]
Government turmoil
Immediately after the vote, Health Minister Aurélien Rousseau, appointed only 6 months earlier, resigned to protest against the bill's passage and the potential reform of the AME system[25] while Higher Education Minister Sylvie Retailleau offered her resignation but she remained in the government after Macron and Borne gave her reassurances on the measures affecting foreign students in France.[26]
In the days following the legislation's adoption, both Macron and his Prime minister publicly expressed doubts about the constitutionality of some of the bill's provisions despite having endorsed it through the parliamentary process, raising questions among politicians and legal scholars.[27] Shortly after, Macron referred the bill to the Constitutional Council to appease concerns raised inside his coalition.
Other ministers, such as Abdul-Malak (Culture) and Beaune (Transports) continued to publicly voice their opposition to the immigration law, while remaining in government.[28]
Furthermore, the governing coalition appeared to be left weaker and deeply divided by the passage of the bill, with MPs questioning their political affiliation and 2 MPs eventually quitting Macron's alliance in Parliament.[29]
Additionally, freshly-appointed Health Minister Agnès Firmin-Le Bodo became embroiled in scandal over corruption allegations, raising doubts over her future in government.[30]
Resignation of Élisabeth Borne
In late 2023-early 2024, news media reported that a growing number of MPs and members from Macron's coalition wanted to see a change of Prime minister in the coming weeks, in an effort to relaunch the President's troubled second term and move on the contentious immigration debate.[31] On 7 January 2024, MoDem party leader François Bayrou said that "changes" to the government's composition were "necessary" to "open a new period", implying a change of PM was crucial to revive Macron's presidency.[32]
The crisis ended when Macron requested Élisabeth Borne to resign as PM, which she reluctantly did on 8 January 2024.[33] The following day, she was succeeded by 34-year-old Education Minister Gabriel Attal, who was the most popular minister in the outgoing cabinet.[34] He went on to form a minority government dominated by figures coming from the centre-right and from which Abdul-Malak and Beaune, leading figures of the government revolt over the immigration bill in late December 2023, were sacked.[35]
In parliamentary politics, balance of power is a situation in which one or more members of a parliamentary or similar chamber can by their uncommitted vote enable a party to attain and remain in minority government. The term may also be applied to the members who hold that position. The members holding the balance of power may guarantee their support for a government by either joining it in a coalition government or by an assurance that they will vote against any motion of no confidence in the government or will abstain in such a vote. In return for such a commitment, such members may demand legislative or policy commitments from the party they are to support. A person or party may also hold a balance of power in a chamber without any commitment to government, in which case both the government and opposition groupings may on occasion need to negotiate for that person's or party's support.
Olivier Dussopt is a French politician who served as minister of labour, employment and integration in the government of prime minister Élisabeth Borne from 2022 to 2024. He previously served as minister of public action and accounts in the governments of successive prime ministers Édouard Philippe and Jean Castex from 2019 to 2022. Dussopt was a member of the National Assembly for Ardèche from 2007 to 2017, and again in 2022 and 2024.
The politics of France take place with the framework of a semi-presidential system determined by the French Constitution of the French Fifth Republic. The nation declares itself to be an "indivisible, secular, democratic, and social Republic". The constitution provides for a separation of powers and proclaims France's "attachment to the Rights of Man and the principles of National Sovereignty as defined by the Declaration of 1789".
Emmanuel Jean-Michel Frédéric Macron is a French politician who has been serving as the 25th president of France since 2017 and ex officio one of the two Co-Princes of Andorra. He previously was Minister of Economics, Industry and Digital Affairs under President François Hollande from 2014 to 2016 and Deputy Secretary-General to the President from 2012 to 2014. He has been a member of Renaissance since he founded it in 2016.
Gérald Moussa Darmanin is a French politician who has been serving as Minister of the Interior in the governments of Prime Ministers Jean Castex, Élisabeth Borne and Gabriel Attal since 2020.
Élisabeth Borne is a French politician who served as Prime Minister of France from 2022 to 2024. She is a member of President Emmanuel Macron's party Renaissance. Borne is the second woman to hold the position of Prime Minister after Édith Cresson, who served from 1991 to 1992.
Sandrine Le Feur is a French organic farmer and politician of Renaissance (RE) who has been serving as a member of the National Assembly since the 2017 elections, representing the department of Finistère.
Sébastien Lecornu is a French politician who serves as Minister of the Armed Forces in the government of successive Prime Ministers Élisabeth Borne and Gabriel Attal since 20 May 2022.
Olivia Grégoire is a French politician of Renaissance (RE) who has been serving as Minister for Small and Medium Enterprises, Trade, Crafts and Tourism under President Emmanuel Macron since 2022.
Jean-Noël Barrot is a French politician of the Democratic Movement (MoDem) who has been serving as the Secretary of State for European Affairs in the government of Prime Minister Gabriel Attal since 2024. He previously was Minister for Digital Transition and Telecommunications (France) in the government of Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne from 2022 to 2024.
Aurore Bergé is a French politician who has been serving as Minister for Gender Equality and Fight against discriminations in the government of Prime Minister Gabriel Attal since January 2024.
Gabriel Nissim Attal de Couriss is a French politician serving as Prime Minister of France since January 2024. As a member of the Renaissance party, Attal rapidly rose up the political ranks following his election to the National Assembly in June 2017. He became the Junior Minister to the Minister of National Education and Youth in 2018, which made him the youngest person to serve in the Government of France, the Spokesperson of the Government in 2020, the Minister of Public Action and Accounts in 2022, and the Minister of National Education and Youth in 2023.
Emmanuel Macron began serving as the 25th President of France on 14 May 2017 when he was inaugurated after winning the 2017 French presidential election. Following his reelection in 2022, Macron was re-inaugurated on 7 May 2022 and his second term officially began on 14 May 2022.
Legislative elections were held in France on 12 and 19 June 2022 to elect the 577 members of the 16th National Assembly of the Fifth Republic. The elections took place following the 2022 French presidential election, which was held in April 2022. They have been described as the most indecisive legislative elections since the establishment of the five-year presidential term in 2000 and subsequent change of the electoral calendar in 2002. The governing Ensemble coalition remained the largest bloc in the National Assembly but substantially lost its ruling majority, resulting in the formation of France's first minority government since 1993; for the first time since 1997, the incumbent president of France did not have an absolute majority in Parliament. As no alliance won a majority, it resulted in a hung parliament for the first time since 1988.
The 16th legislature of the Fifth French Republic was elected in the 2022 French legislative election. It was preceded by the 15th legislature. On 9 June 2024, following a defeat in the 2024 European Parliament Elections, President Emmanuel Macron dissolved the National Assembly, as per article 12 of the Constitution of the Fifth French Republic, and called for snap elections on 30 June and 7 July.
The Borne government was the forty-third government of the French Fifth Republic, formed on 16 May 2022 and headed by Élisabeth Borne as Prime Minister under President Emmanuel Macron. It served as a caretaker government in early January 2024, before Gabriel Attal was appointed Prime Minister by Macron.
Presidential elections are scheduled to be held in France on 11 April 2027, with a second round on 25 April if required. The elections may be held earlier under exceptional circumstances, such as the resignation or death of the incumbent president Emmanuel Macron. Macron is not eligible to run in the 2027 elections, as he is limited to two consecutive terms in office.
A legislative election was held in France on 30 June 2024, with a second round held on 7 July, to elect all 577 members of the 17th National Assembly of the Fifth French Republic. The election followed the dissolution of the National Assembly by President Emmanuel Macron, who decided to call a snap election in the aftermath of the 2024 European Parliament election in France in which the National Rally (RN) made substantial gains against his Besoin d'Europe electoral list. The latter lost a considerable number of seats compared to the 2019 European Parliament election.
The Attal government is the forty-fourth and most recent government of the French Fifth Republic, formed on 9 January 2024 and headed by Gabriel Attal as Prime Minister under the presidency of Emmanuel Macron.
The National Rally–The Republicans alliance crisis was triggered by the formation of the Union of the Far-Right, an alliance between Éric Ciotti, the president of The Republicans (LR), and the National Rally (RN) ahead of the 2024 French legislative election. LR MPs and senators questioned claims the alliance was revolutionary. Unprecedentedly in France, the senior members unanimously removed its president for unsanctioned negotiations and disrespect for party statutes. This broke the traditional cordon sanitaire against the far-right, a major party allying with the National Rally.
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