PRESIDENT Emmanuel Macron was set to address the French nation last night, a day after the prime minister he appointed, Michel Barnier, lost a no confidence vote in the National Assembly.
It was the first time in more than 60 years that a French government has been voted out by parliament.
The motion, proposed by the left-wing New Popular Front (NFP) coalition and supported by the far-right National Rally (RN) of Marine Le Pen, which had previously propped up Mr Barnier’s government, came after he had controversially used special executive powers to force through his unpopular budget without a vote.
While Italy’s communist tradition remains fragmented and politically marginal, France’s party is attempting to re-establish itself as an independent force rooted in working-class organisation, says NICK WRIGHT
From Reform UK to Trump, Orban and beyond, the far right is organised across borders and growing. Waiting for it to collapse is a fatal error – building an international, locally rooted left alternative is now an urgent necessity., argues ROGER McKENZIE
DENNIS BROE gives an update on the last week of anti-austerity protests against the Macron regime, which has seen the supposedly more right-leaning Gilets Jaunes join with the unions and the left


