Hello and welcome to NewsHour.
It's coming to you live from the BBC World Service studios in London.
I'm Tim Franks, and we're beginning with France on the cusp of crisis.
The Prime Minister, Michel Barnier, has rammed through Parliament without a vote.
A controversial new Social Security budget in a restive National Assembly.
Mr.
Barnier said that he had decided to use a special constitutional provision to get the budget adopted.
The French people are calling for and expect stability, are calling for and expect transparency for businesses and for daily lives at a point when our country has so much to do to defend its interests and its influence in Europe and in the world.
That's why, in the framework of the Constitution, I commit the responsibility of the government, of my government on the entirety of the Social Security budget bill for 2025.
Well, you heard the Prime Minister say at the start there that the French people are calling for and expecting stability.
That seems to be the last thing on offer, at least when it comes to the politics of this, because the two big blocs of parties on the hard left and hard right now say they will vote to bring the government down within days, probably just later this.
And they have the numbers to do that.
All of which leaves France facing political upheaval at a time when it's also in a deep economic hole.
Let's hear first from one of the members of Parliament who will be backing the imminent no confidence motion in the government.
Nathalie Ozil is with the hard left France Insumes or France Unbowed Party.
What can be achieved by bringing down the government?
Now we are in a deep, huge political crisis, which is even a crisis in the regime in France.
And it has been so since July 7, when Macron decided not to respect the result of the snap elections and decided to appoint a right wing Prime Minister in spite of the victory of the new Popular Front.
So this was the first problem.
And now Prime Minister Barnier decided to use the 49.3 article of the constitution.