TheSun – He pledged to remain French president until the end of his mandate, speaking at the Élysée Palace in Paris this evening.
“Where the country is vulnerable it needs to be rebuilt,” said the French president.
“Wherever there is poor behaviour, we need to reintroduce wisdom, and wherever there is room for anxiety and despair, we need to bring hope.”
“We have done it, and we will continue to show that to the world,” he added.
The president ended his speech: “Long live the republic, long live France.”
His address comes after his prime minister Michel Barnier lost a no-confidence vote in France’s parliament yesterday.
It is the first time in over six decades a French government has been voted down by parliament.
French MPs including the left and the far right combined voted 331 out of 574 in favour of the motion to pass, exceeding the minimum mark of 288.
They were left angry after Barnier said he would push the budget through via a presidential decree, even though it failed to receive popular support from the MPs.
Such a move has become common under Macron’s reign, who is accused of ignoring democracy and acting like a dictator.
Barnier, who served as one of the negotiators during Brexit, has now become his country’s shortest-serving prime minister ever.
He is not an elected MP and his downfall after only three months breaks a record previously held by Socialist prime minister Bernard Cazeneuve, who served for five months, up until May 2017.
Barnier has been asked to stay on as caretaker while Macron chooses a replacement.
Macron thanked Barnier for his “dedication” and “unwillingness to give up” at the start of his speech tonight.
He said some of his political groups have chosen “chaos”, and that they “don’t want to build, they want to dismantle”.
But French president added his mandate is for five years and he “will see that through to the end”.
“Today a new era begins”, he said. “We need to work together for France.”
France’s leader said his focus is now on the 2025 budget and to make the country “stronger” and “fairer”.
He added the government needs to keep “you and your children’s interests at heart”.
