France's parliament brought down the government on Monday over its plans to tame the ballooning national debt, deepening a political crisis that is weakening the euro zone's second-largest economy at a time of steep global tensions.

President Emmanuel Macron, who is facing calls from the opposition to dissolve parliament and resign, will instead hunt for his fifth prime minister in less than two years. His office said he would appoint one in the next few days.

The next government's most pressing task will be to pass a budget, the same challenge Francois Bayrou faced when he took office. Securing the backing of a very divided parliament will be equally hard.

"You have the power to bring down the government, but you do not have the power to erase reality," Bayrou told lawmakers before losing the confidence vote, with 364 votes against him and only 194 in his favour.

"Reality will remain relentless: expenses will continue to rise, and the burden of debt, already unbearable, will grow heavier and more costly," he said.

Bayrou, who took office as prime minister only nine months ago, will tender his resignation on Tuesday, his office said.

He had called the confidence vote to try to win parliamentary support for his strategy to lower a deficit that stands at nearly double the European Union's 3 percent ceiling and to start tackling a debt pile equivalent to 114 percent of GDP.

But opposition parties were in little mood to rally behind his planned savings of 44 billion euros in next year's budget, with an election for Macron's successor looming in 2027.

"This moment marks the end of the agony of a phantom government," far-right leader Marine Le Pen said, pushing for a snap parliamentary election, which Macron has so far ruled out.

"Macron is now on the front line facing the people. He too must go," Jean-Luc Melenchon, leader of the hard-left France Unbowed, said on X.

Macron now faces one of the most critical decisions of his presidency – appoint another prime minister to try to thrash out a compromise, or call snap elections in a bid to have a more accommodating parliament.

RTHK's Europe correspondent, Gavin Grey, said Macron faces an uphill battle if he chooses to seek a replacement for Bayrou.

"He needs to find somebody who can unify the left and the right and his own party. And that's an extremely tall order," he told Hong Kong Today.

"It may be another lame duck, another person who simply can't get what he wants, or she wants."

Grey added Socialist Party leader Olivier Faure and former prime minister Bernard Cazeneuve have been floated as possible candidates.

"But the point is, can any of them unify enough of those representatives to basically get this through? At the moment, that does not look hopeful at all."

There is no guarantee an election would result in any improvement in the fortunes of Macron's centre-right bloc in parliament.

And although the Socialist Party has expressed readiness to lead a new government, it is far from clear whether such an administration could survive.

According to a poll by Odoxa-Backbone for Le Figaro newspaper, 64 percent of the French want Macron to resign rather than name a new prime minister, a move he has ruled out.

He is forbidden from standing for a third term in 2027.

Around 77 percent of people do not approve of his work, Macron's worst-ever such rating, according to an Ifop poll for the Ouest-France daily. (Agencies/RTHK)