Saturday, December 14

After several requests from Your News Hub members, we have added a new part of the Word of the Day that includes the phonetic pronunciation of the word.

French President Emmanuel Macron has named the country's new Prime Minister as François Bayrou, a centrist friend of Macron's who will hope to restore political unity to the country.

Last week, France's National Assembly banded together to pass a no-confidence vote against Prime Minister Michel Barnier, ousting him from his position. Barnier just received the position in September, but France's currently disjointed government ended up voting against him.

Back in the summer, Macron called for snap parliamentary elections to reinforce the support for his party. However, that plan seriously backfired, and no party won the majority in the National Assembly, leaving the left-wing New Popular Front party, the far-right National Rally party, and Macron's centrist Renaissance party at a stalemate.

However, as a key budget deadline approached on December 21, National Rally leader Marine Le Pen began to denounce Barnier's handling of France's government, echoing the thoughts of many French officials. This caused severe stirring among the National Assembly, who later decided for Barnier and the rest of his Cabinet to be ousted by a staggering 43 votes above the required threshold of 288 votes. This makes Barnier's term as prime minister the shortest in French history-- a mere three months.

This left a political void in the French government, making it temporarily dysfunctional. Barnier guaranteed the public that there would be chaos in his wake, as the government needs to pass the budget bill in one week's time. Other lawmakers have suggested extending the deadline until January 1, which would give them some extra time to complete the process. Macron confirmed that the proposition for the extension of the deadline would be entered into parliament later this month, preventing a government shutdown.

While many experts believe that France is in serious debt and is struggling financially, officials have stated that much of their debt is not due for years and they still have backup plans in place to ensure that a debt crisis does not occur. However, it is clear that they are in serious debt: their budget deficit is now over 6% of their gross domestic product, and experts think that could rise to 7% as soon as next year.

The no-confidence vote also prevents new legislative elections from taking place until July, meaning that France will have to deal with a National Assembly with no majority for the first half of 2025.

In addition, Macron had to pick another person worthy of the position as his prime minister this week. Bayrou, a 73-year-old man, has lots of experience in the political field and maintains similar centrist views to Macron, making him a prime choice. Bayrou began as France's education minister from 1993 to 1997, making him a known figure in French politics. Bayrou is also the leader and founder of the Democratic Movement, a party similar to Macron's, and was a presidential candidate in 2002, 2007, and 2012. Lastly, he was a candidate for prime minister under several presidents, but was never chosen, and strongly supported Macron and his centrist views when Macron was first elected in 2017.

He will need to choose new ministers in the coming days, but he has some serious challenges ahead of him. Due to the party's centrist position, they will need to appeal to lawmakers on both the left and right-wing sides, making it even tougher for Bayrou's new government. He has already admitted that bringing France's government back to a unified, cooperative state will be tough, but he hopes to achieve that as soon as possible. In addition, if he fails to make significant progress in the next few weeks, he could be ousted in another no-confidence vote, which would bring Macron's already struggling party to new lows.

Fact of the Day (Reader's Digest): Inmates produce United States license plates in prison. In fact, prison labor has included license plate manufacturing for over 100 years, and it still continues today in many states.

Quote of the Day: Take the first step in faith. You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step. (Martin Luther King Jr.)

Word of the Day (Merriam-Webster): Immense (adj, pronounced ih-MENSS)- Something described as immense is very great in size, degree, or amount.

In a Sentence: They inherited an immense fortune.