France and Germany’s governments are crumbling, leading Canada’s prime minister to take preventive measures to ensure that Canada’s doesn’t follow suit. Both France and Germany’s parliament held a no-confidence vote which led to both countries scrambling to form a new government.
In France, the parliament voted out Prime Minister Michel Barnier after only three months in office (BBC, December 2024). Barnier has been increasingly less popular after using special powers to pass his budget without a vote (BBC, December 2024). Over the summer, France held multiple “snap elections,” attempting to establish a party majority in the government but to no avail (BBC, December 2024). Without a prime minister or a majority in parliament, France is forced to immediately rebuild their government as they currently have no budget (PBS, December 2024).
In presidential governments, there is no chance Congress would not have a majority given the role of the Vice President (U.S. Bank, December 2024). So, it is unlikely they would need to rebuild the government to pass a budget. However, since parliamentary governments need a majority in order to function, France’s parliament not having a prime minister or a majority means they are not able to achieve anything, leaving the citizens without a functioning government until President Macron can forge a new one (PBS, December 2024).
In Germany, Chancellor Olaf Scholz lost a confidence vote after their parliamentors voted to dissolve the current German government (NY Times, December 2024). The vote took place nine months before the next scheduled election, forcing Germany to hold a snap election to hopefully create a new better functioning government (NY Times, December 2024). The government cannot function until a coalition majority is created which could take months to achieve.
The breakdown of France and Germany is monumental. In recent years, France and Germany have been working together to ensure the protection of European life and culture (IP Quarterly, June 2024). After the collapse of the U.K, Europe turned to France and Germany to help lead the continent through difficult times (IP Quarterly, December 2022). Now, with all three major countries out of commission, the next question is what is next for Europe? What will the world of international relations look like in the next few years?
With the appending leadership of Donald J. Trump in the U.S, the continuing war in Russia, the “conflict” between Israel and Gaza, the pending “conflict” between Taiwan and China, and now the collapse of France and Germany, the next few years are looking more and more bleak.
However, I want to emphasize that there is hope. Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced he will be stepping down as prime minister to avoid Canada ending up like France and Germany (BBC, January 2025). If more leaders can take actions like Trudeau, it could lessen the impact of the uncertainty from the collapse of other international powers. In the face of other major government collapses, there will always be the rise of other international powers which is why I urge you to not lose faith yet.
