French lawmakers will hold a no-confidence vote Wednesday, with far-right leader Marine Le Pen expected to join forces with a left-wing coalition to topple the government.

Prime Minister Michel Barnier used a constitutional mechanism on Monday to force through an unpopular budget, leading to a leftist coalition and Le Pen’s National Rally to call for votes of no confidence.

Given the fragmented National Assembly and a diminished number of centrist lawmakers, the unlikely alliance between the far right and left groups should be sufficient to topple Barnier’s administration.

The extraordinarily fast collapse of the government – if the motion passes it will be the shortest tenure for a premier since France’s Fifth Republic was founded in 1958 – underscores the power acquired by Le Pen since President Emmanuel Macron called a surprise election in June.

The uncertainty around the budget has pushed bond investors to punish France’s sovereign debt relative to its peers, driving up borrowing costs at one point last week to match Greece’s and leading Barnier to warn of a “storm” in financial markets if he is dismissed from power.

On Monday, the spread between 10-year French and German bond yields climbed eight basis points — the biggest widening move since June — to end the day at 89 basis points, close to the highest level since 2012. The closely watched gauge of French risk narrowed slightly on Tuesday to around 86 basis points, while the country’s stock market rose in line with European peers.

Government collapse so close to the end-year budget deadline would take France into unchartered territory. The outgoing government, acting in a caretaker capacity, could use emergency laws to collect taxes and guarantee a minimal level of spending, but the economic and financial impact is hard to predict.

The current finance minister, Antoine Armand, warned earlier Tuesday that stopgap legislation would raise taxes for millions of households and block planned spending increases for some priorities, including security and farming.

“In an economy where interest rates rise, in an economy without a budget, in an economy plunged into uncertainty, no sector wins, no French person wins, no business wins,” Armand said on France 2 Tuesday.

If Barnier is dismissed on Wednesday, it would then be up to Macron to appoint a new prime minister to attempt to pass a fresh budget. However, the pick will be no easier than this summer when the president delayed for months as he reckoned with a fractured parliament where nobody can command a majority.

What Bloomberg Economics Says...

“Le Pen might prefer political chaos to stability to put pressure on Macron to resign.”

—Antonio Barroso, Eleonora Mavroeidi and Jamie Rush. For full insight, click here

There is no constitutional deadline for the president’s decision on a new premier. He cannot call legislative elections until the summer, a year after the last ballot.

While the left has called on Macron to resign, he can’t be forced out of his job. The next presidential election is set for 2027 and Le Pen is the frontrunner.

Investors have fretted for months over France’s political difficulties, just as the government has been trying to push measures that will reduce its unwieldy deficit.

The budget bill initially presented by Barnier’s government contained €60 billion ($63.2 billion) of tax increases and spending cuts that aimed for a sharp adjustment in the deficit to 5% of economic output in 2025 from an estimated 6.1% this year.

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With assistance from Julien Ponthus and Constantine Courcoulas.

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