French government felled in no-confidence vote, deepening political crisis

Far-right and left-wing lawmakers joined forces to back a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Michel Barnier and his government on December 4, 2024. (Reuters)
Far-right and left-wing lawmakers joined forces to back a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Michel Barnier and his government on December 4, 2024. (Reuters)
Short Url
Updated 05 December 2024
Follow

French government felled in no-confidence vote, deepening political crisis

Far-right and left-wing lawmakers joined forces to back a no-confidence motion against PM Michel Barnier and government.
  • Far-right and left-wing lawmakers joined forces to back a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Michel Barnier and his government
  • Barnier was expected to tender his resignation and that of his government to President Emmanuel Macron shortly

PARIS: French opposition lawmakers brought the government down on Wednesday, throwing the European Union’s second-biggest economic power deeper into a political crisis that threatens its capacity to legislate and rein in a massive budget deficit.
Far-right and left-wing lawmakers joined forces to back a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Michel Barnier and his government, with a majority 331 votes in support of the motion.
Barnier was expected to tender his resignation and that of his government to President Emmanuel Macron shortly.
The hard left and far right punished Barnier for opting to use special constitutional powers to adopt part of an unpopular budget without a final vote in parliament, where it lacked majority support. The draft budget had sought 60 billion euros ($63.07 billion) in savings in a drive to shrink a gaping deficit.
“This (deficit) reality will not disappear by the magic of a motion of censure,” Barnier told lawmakers ahead of the vote, adding the budget deficit would come back to haunt whichever government comes next.
No French government had lost a confidence vote since Georges Pompidou’s in 1962. Macron ushered in the crisis by calling a snap election in June that delivered a polarized parliament.
With its president diminished, France now risks ending the year without a stable government or a 2025 budget, although the constitution allows special measures that would avert a US-style government shutdown.
France’s political turmoil will further weaken a European Union already reeling from the implosion of Germany’s coalition government, and weeks before US President-elect Donald Trump returns to the White House.
“We have arrived at the moment of truth,” far-right National Rally leader Marine Le Pen said, adding that Barnier’s austerity budget plans had been dangerous and unfair and would have meant chaos for France.
The hard left France Unbowed (LFI) party demanded Macron’s resignation.
“With the no-confidence motion, all of the politics of Emmanuel Macron have been defeated and we demand that he goes,” said LFI member Mathilde Panot.
No easy exit from French political crisis
France now faces a period of deep political uncertainty that is already unnerving investors in French sovereign bonds and stocks. Earlier this week, France’s borrowing costs briefly exceeded those of Greece, generally considered far more risky.
Macron must now make a choice.
Three sources told Reuters that Macron aimed to install a new prime minister swiftly, with one saying he wanted to name a premier before a ceremony to reopen the Notre-Dame Cathedral on Saturday, which Trump is due to attend.
Any new prime minister would face the same challenges as Barnier in getting bills, including the 2025 budget, adopted by a divided parliament. There can be no new parliamentary election before July.
Macron could alternatively ask Barnier and his ministers to stay on in a caretaker capacity while he takes time to identify a prime minister able to attract sufficient cross-party support to pass legislation.
A caretaker government could either propose emergency legislation to roll the tax-and-spend provisions in the 2024 budget into next year, or invoke special powers to pass the draft 2025 budget by decree — though jurists say this is a legal grey area and the political cost would be huge.
Macron’s opponents also could vote down one prime minister after the next.
His rivals say the only meaningful way to end the protracted political crisis is for him to resign, something he has hitherto shown little inclination to do.
Economic pain
The upheaval is not without risk for Le Pen, who has for years sought to convince voters that her party offers a stable government in waiting.
“The French will harshly judge the choice you are going to make,” Laurent Wauquiez, a lawmaker from the conservative Les Republicains party who backs Macron, told Le Pen in parliament.
Since Macron called the summer snap election, France’s CAC 40 benchmark stock market index has dropped nearly 10 percent and is the heaviest loser among top EU economies. The euro single currency is down nearly 4 percent.
“The positive signals ... that were seen over the summer, partly due to the Olympics, are now a thing of the past,” Hamburg Commercial Bank economist Tariq Kamal Chaudhry said.
Barnier’s draft budget had sought to cut the fiscal deficit from a projected 6 percent of national output this year to 5 percent in 2025. Voting down his government would be catastrophic for state finances, he said. Le Pen shrugged off the warning. She said her party would support any eventual emergency law that rolls over the 2024 budget’s tax-and-spend provisions into next year to ensure there is stopgap financing.


Alaska authorities search for missing passenger plane with 10 on board

Alaska authorities search for missing passenger plane with 10 on board
Updated 10 sec ago
Follow

Alaska authorities search for missing passenger plane with 10 on board

Alaska authorities search for missing passenger plane with 10 on board
  • The small turboprop Cessna Caravan plane had nine passengers and one pilot on board
Authorities are searching for a Bering Air passenger plane with 10 people on board that was reported missing while en route from Unalakleet to Nome, Alaska’s Department of Public Safety said on Thursday.
The small turboprop Cessna Caravan plane had nine passengers and one pilot on board, the agency said on its website, adding that crews were working to get its last-known coordinates.
A disproportionate number of air taxi and commuter plane accidents occur in Alaska compared to other US states, the US government’s National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health says.
Alaska has mountainous terrain and challenging weather. Many villages are not connected by roads and small planes are used to transport people and goods.
Bering Air is an Alaska-based regional airline that operates around 39 planes and helicopters, according to data from flight tracking website FlightRadar24.
Its last position, flying over water, was received by FlightRadar24 trackers 38 minutes after departing Unalakleet at 1438 local time Thursday (2338 GMT) for a flight that usually takes under an hour.
Bering Air did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Rubio renews US hard line with Venezuela plane seizure

Rubio renews US hard line with Venezuela plane seizure
Updated 26 min 43 sec ago
Follow

Rubio renews US hard line with Venezuela plane seizure

Rubio renews US hard line with Venezuela plane seizure
  • A Dominican Republic prosecutor and US law enforcement representative together taped a sign that said “seized” on a Dassault Falcon 200 jet bearing a Venezuelan fla

Santo Domingo: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Thursday supervised the seizure of a second aircraft belonging to Venezuela’s leftist government in less than a year, showing a hard line despite nascent diplomacy.
Rubio, a passionate opponent of Latin America’s leftist authoritarians like Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, witnessed the confiscation of the aircraft at the end of his first trip in the job, which took him to five countries of Latin America.
Rubio traveled to a military airstrip in the capital Santo Domingo where, in front of cameras, a Dominican Republic prosecutor and US law enforcement representative together taped a sign that said “seized” on a Dassault Falcon 200 jet bearing a Venezuelan flag.
“We are very grateful to the Dominican Republic for participating and cooperating with the US justice system,” Rubio said in an interview with SIN News.
“The message is that when there are sanctions because they are violating human rights, they are violating a whole series of things, traveling to Iran, helping countries that really wish harm to the United States,” he said, “these sanctions are going to be applied and reinforced.”
Dominican Republic authorities detained the aircraft last year after US authorities said it had violated unilateral US sanctions against Venezuela.
Venezuelan officials used the plane to fly to Greece, Turkiye, Russia, Nicaragua and Cuba, and had taken it to the Dominican Republic for maintenance, according to the US State Department.
Maduro’s oil minister also used the plane to attend a meeting of the OPEC oil cartel in the United Arab Emirates in 2019, according to the Treasury Department.
In September, the United States, under then-president Joe Biden, announced the seizure of a first Venezuelan government airplane in the Dominican Republic that had been used to transport Maduro on international trips.
President Donald Trump has long vowed to clamp down on Maduro and in his first term unsuccessfully sought to remove him, after wide international questioning on the legitimacy of Maduro’s re-election.
But an envoy from Trump, Richard Grenell, last week traveled to Caracas to meet with Maduro, securing the release of six US prisoners.
Venezuela said the talks were held with “mutual respect,” but Rubio and other US officials have insisted that there was no backtracking on the US refusal to accept Maduro as Venezuela’s legitimate president.
Rubio said that Venezuela remained a concern for US national security, pointing to the mass migration from it as the economy implodes.
“Venezuela is an issue of national security, not just of lack of democracy,” Rubio told reporters Wednesday in Guatemala.
“It is about a government — a regime — that has harmed more than seven million Venezuelans, and all the neighboring countries that have had to face the reality of this massive migration,” he said, referring to Venezuelans who have left.
Grenell also pressed Maduro to accept the return of Venezuelans deported from the United States.
Trump quickly after taking office stripped roughly 600,000 Venezuelans in the United States of protection from deportation.
Biden had refused to deport them due to the security and economic crises in Venezuela.


Arab Americans for Trump changes name after president’s Gaza comments

Arab Americans for Trump changes name after president’s Gaza comments
Updated 40 min 38 sec ago
Follow

Arab Americans for Trump changes name after president’s Gaza comments

Arab Americans for Trump changes name after president’s Gaza comments
  • AAFT changes name to Arab Americans for Peace to lobby Trump to bring about “lasting peace” based on two-state solution
  • Group opposes any proposal to relocate Palestinians to neighboring countries or to convert Gaza into a regional resort

CHICAGO: The chairman of Arab Americans for Trump told Arab News on Thursday that Donald Trump’s statements about taking over Gaza are “political rhetoric,” and that the US president is committed to a peaceful settlement between Israelis and Palestinians.

Dr. Bishara Bahbah said AAFT has changed its name to Arab Americans for Peace to lobby the Trump administration to bring about “lasting peace” based on the two-state solution.

He added that the group opposes any proposal to relocate Palestinians to neighboring countries or to convert Gaza into a regional resort. 

“We appreciate the president’s offer to clean and rebuild Gaza. However, the purpose should be to make Gaza habitable for Palestinians and no one else,” Bahbah said.

“The Palestine that we envision is one that would be on lands occupied by Israel in 1967: the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem as its capital.”

Bahbah brushed aside Trump’s Gaza comments as a style of American politics in which politicians toss out ideas to kick-start public debate.

“Trump promised specifically to us as a community to bring an end to the wars and an end to the killings of civilians,” he said.

“Secondly, Trump promised to bring about a lasting peace in the Middle East that’s satisfactory to all parties.

“He delivered on the ceasefire and sent back (special envoy to the Middle East) Steve Witkoff in order to ensure that the second phase of the ceasefire goes into effect.”

Bahbah, who met with Trump and several advisers during his election campaign, added: “The ceasefire was a major win for us because we were pleading as a community with the Biden administration to push the Israelis to accept a ceasefire, but clearly President (Joe) Biden and his top lieutenants weren’t pushing the Israelis hard enough.

“President Trump knew how to do it, and from our perspective, that was a big thank you to our community for our vote in supporting the president’s election.”

Regarding Trump’s suggestions that Egypt and Jordan take in Gazans, Bahbah said: “One has to be realistic. Why would Jordan and Egypt bear the brunt of Palestinian refugees when the Israelis were the cause of the Palestinians in Gaza becoming refugees and they caused the destruction of Gaza?”

Bahbah noted that Israel’s actions in Gaza were “funded and supported” by the Biden administration.

“Yes, the Israelis could retaliate for what Hamas did on Oct. 7 (2023), but not in a manner that demolishes 90 percent of the Gaza Strip.

“That’s way over the top. The Israelis have been brought to the International Court of Justice over this particular issue.”


Groups representing federal workers file suit to stop Trump’s shutdown of USAID

Groups representing federal workers file suit to stop Trump’s shutdown of USAID
Updated 07 February 2025
Follow

Groups representing federal workers file suit to stop Trump’s shutdown of USAID

Groups representing federal workers file suit to stop Trump’s shutdown of USAID
  • Lawsuit says President Trump lacks the authority to shut down an agency enshrined in congressional legislation
  • It asks the federal court in Washington to compel the reopening of USAID’s buildings, return its staffers to work and restore funding

WASHINGTON: Federal workers associations filed suit late Thursday asking a federal court to stop the Trump administration’s “effective dismantling” of the lead US aid agency.
The lawsuit by the American Foreign Service Association and the American Federation of Government Employees comes as the new Trump administration and ally Elon Musk are targeting the US Agency for International Development for eradication, freezing its funds and placing almost all of its workers on leave or furlough.
The lawsuit says President Donald Trump lacks the authority to shut down an agency enshrined in congressional legislation. It asks the federal court in Washington to compel the reopening of USAID’s buildings, return its staffers to work and restore funding.

Earlier in the day, the Trump administration presented a plan to dramatically cut staffing worldwide for US aid projects as part of its dismantling of the USAID, leaving fewer than 300 workers out of thousands.
Two current USAID employees and one former senior USAID official told The Associated Press of the administration’s plan, presented to remaining senior officials of the agency Thursday. They spoke on condition of anonymity amid a Trump administration order barring USAID staffers from talking to anyone outside their agency.
The plan would leave fewer than 300 staffers on the job out of what are currently 8,000 direct-hires and contractors. They, along with an unknown number of 5,000 locally hired international staffers abroad, would run the few life-saving programs that the administration says it intends to keep going for the time being.
It was not immediately clear whether the reduction to 300 would be permanent or temporary, potentially allowing more workers to return after what the Trump administration says is a review of which aid and development programs it wants to resume.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said during a trip to the Dominican Republic that the US government will continue providing foreign aid.
“But it is going to be foreign aid that makes sense and is aligned with our national interest,” he told reporters.
The Trump administration and billionaire ally Elon Musk, who is running a budget-cutting Department of Government Efficiency, have targeted USAID hardest so far in an unprecedented challenge of the federal government and many of its programs.
Since President Donald Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration, a sweeping funding freeze has shut down most of the agency’s programs worldwide, and almost all of its workers have been placed on administrative leave or furloughed. Musk and Trump have spoken of eliminating USAID as an independent agency and moving surviving programs under the State Department.
Democratic lawmakers and others call the move illegal without congressional approval.
 


Trump signs order imposing sanctions on International Criminal Court over investigations of Israel

Trump signs order imposing sanctions on International Criminal Court over investigations of Israel
Updated 07 February 2025
Follow

Trump signs order imposing sanctions on International Criminal Court over investigations of Israel

Trump signs order imposing sanctions on International Criminal Court over investigations of Israel
  • Actions may include blocking property and assets and not allowing ICC officials, employees and relatives to enter the US
  • Human rights activists said sanctioning court officials would have a chilling effect and run counter to US interests in other conflict zones

WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order imposing sanctions on the International Criminal Court over investigations of Israel, a close US ally.
Neither the US nor Israel is a member of or recognizes the court, which has issued an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for alleged war crimes over his military response in Gaza after the Hamas attack against Israel in October 2023. Tens of thousands of Palestinians, including children, have been killed during the Israeli military’s response.
The order Trump signed accuses the ICC of engaging in “illegitimate and baseless actions targeting America and our close ally Israel” and of abusing its power by issuing “baseless arrest warrants” against Netanyahu and his former defense minister, Yoav Gallant.
“The ICC has no jurisdiction over the United States or Israel,” the order states, adding that the court had set a “dangerous precedent” with its actions against both countries.
Trump’s action came as Netanyahu was visiting Washington. He and Trump held talks Tuesday at the White House, and Netanyahu spent some of Thursday meeting with lawmakers on Capitol Hill.
The order says the US will impose “tangible and significant consequences” on those responsible for the ICC’s “transgressions.” Actions may include blocking property and assets and not allowing ICC officials, employees and relatives to enter the United States.
Human rights activists said sanctioning court officials would have a chilling effect and run counter to US interests in other conflict zones where the court is investigating.
“Victims of human rights abuses around the world turn to the International Criminal Court when they have nowhere else to go, and President Trump’s executive order will make it harder for them to find justice,” said Charlie Hogle, staff attorney with American Civil Liberties Union’s National Security Project. “The order also raises serious First Amendment concerns because it puts people in the United States at risk of harsh penalties for helping the court identify and investigate atrocities committed anywhere, by anyone.”
Hogle said the order “is an attack on both accountability and free speech.”
“You can disagree with the court and the way it operates, but this is beyond the pale,” Sarah Yager, Washington director of Human Rights Watch, said in an interview prior to the announcement.
Like Israel, the US is not among the court’s 124 members and has long harbored suspicions that a “Global Court” of unelected judges could arbitrarily prosecute US officials. A 2002 law authorizes the Pentagon to liberate any American or US ally held by the court. In 2020, Trump sanctioned chief prosecutor Karim Khan’s predecessor, Fatou Bensouda, over her decision to open an inquiry into war crimes committed by all sides, including the US, in Afghanistan.
However, those sanctions were lifted under President Joe Biden, and the US began to tepidly cooperate with the tribunal — especially after Khan in 2023 charged Russian President Vladimir Putin with war crimes in Ukraine.
Driving that turnaround was Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who organized meetings in Washington, New York and Europe between Khan and GOP lawmakers who have been among the court’s fiercest critics.
Now, Graham says he feels betrayed by Khan — and is vowing to crush the court as well as the economy of any country that tries to enforce the arrest warrant against Netanyahu.
“This is a rogue court. This is a kangaroo court,” Graham said in an interview in December. “There are places where the court makes perfect sense. Russia is a failed state. People fall out of windows. But I never in my wildest dreams imagined they would go after Israel, which has one of the most independent legal systems on the planet.”
“The legal theory they’re using against Israel has no limits and we’re next,” he added.
Biden had called the warrants an abomination, and Trump’s national security adviser, Mike Waltz, has accused the court of having an antisemitic bias.
Any sanctions could cripple the court by making it harder for its investigators to travel and by compromising US-developed technology to safeguard evidence. The court last year suffered a major cyberattack that left employees unable to access files for weeks.
Some European countries are pushing back. The Netherlands, in a statement late last year, called on other ICC members “to cooperate to mitigate risks of these possible sanctions, so that the court can continue to carry out its work and fulfil its mandate.”