French far-right leader Marine Le Pen appears to be betting her future on ousting President Emmanuel Macron before his term ends in 2027, lawmakers and analysts say. To do so, she has helped trigger France's second political crisis in six months, reports Yahoo! News.
It's a decision that may haunt her.
Prime minister Michel Barnier on Monday chose to ram through parliament a key component of the 2025 budget bill after Le Pen and her National Rally (RN) party rejected a last-minute concession aimed at securing their support.
Barnier's minority government is almost certain to lose the resulting no-confidence motion on Wednesday, brought down by the far right and the left combined.
The RN's decision to wield the knife underlines the power of a once-fringe party that became the largest parliamentary force after this summer's snap election.
But it is a risky play at a complex domestic and geopolitical moment from a party seeking to portray itself as a stable government in waiting.
And even if Le Pen's gambit brings the RN to power sooner than expected, she will inherit the same fiscal mess that humbled Barnier, with investors increasingly alarmed by France's 6% budget deficit.