Marine Le Pen explained the RN position prior to the motion being tabled.
“Barnier didn’t listen to the 11 million voters of the RN… He said everyone should assume their own responsibility, and that’s what we will do,” she said.
Barnier has warned of the financial and political effects of unseating him, but Mathilde Panot, president of the LFI, said on Monday that “there will not be chaos once Mr Barnier and his government have gone”.
“We are now experiencing political chaos as a result of both Mr Barnier’s government and Emmanuel Macron’s presidency.”
Barnier was invited to form a government by President Emmanuel Macron in September.
RN lawmakers and the left combined have enough votes to topple Barnier.
If Barnier doesn’t survive Wednesday’s vote, he will remain in place as a caretaker prime minister until Macron announces a new government.
That could be a new majority government – unlikely given the splintering of the French parliament – or a technocratic government, to steer the country until new elections can be held next summer.
The process could take weeks, as it did after a snap general election delivered a hung parliament in summer.
Several parties are also clamouring for new presidential elections. As it stands, Macron is due to stay in post until 2027.
