François Bayrou has placed his government’s survival on a high-stakes confidence vote, urging France to back his tough budget plans despite mounting calls for his departure.
French Prime Minister Bayrou has vowed not to bow out quietly, insisting that his contested economic programme is about the future of France, not just his own political survival.
Speaking on Sunday evening from his office at Matignon, the 74-year-old head of government gave a sprawling 90-minute interview broadcast live on France’s four rolling news channels.
Switching briefly into his native Béarnais dialect of Occitan, he closed with a rallying cry: “Continuons le combat” – which roughly translates as “keep the fight going”.
Bayrou seeks unity before September vote that could topple government
Fixing France's finances
Bayrou is facing a make-or-break vote of confidence in the National Assembly on 8 September, prompted by his decision to tie his government’s future to a tough savings package worth €44 billion.
His opponents on the left and the far right, eager to turn the page on his government, have already pledged to vote him down.
For Bayrou, however, the issue at stake is bigger than his premiership. “The question is not the fate of the Prime Minister,” he declared, “but the fate of France.”
Without at least minimal agreement from MPs and citizens on tackling the national debt, he argued, “there is no courageous policy possible.”
The centrist leader warned that if his government falls, France risks sliding into “a laxer, drifting policy” that he believes would endanger the country’s finances.
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'Alternative budget' dismissed
Yet he also held out an olive branch, promising to meet party leaders this week and signalling room for negotiation on some of the most unpopular measures, including the proposed abolition of two public holidays.
Still, he firmly dismissed the Socialist Party’s alternative budget plan, which would halve the scale of the savings next year and lean more heavily on taxing the wealthy.
“That means doing nothing on the debt,” he retorted, brushing aside suggestions that the PS is ready to take the reins at Matignon.
Socialist leader Olivier Faure has already told Bayrou to start saying goodbye. “On 8 September he will have to go,” Faure said.
Bayrou, quick to counter, shot back: “Olivier Faure wants to be at Matignon. My interview is certainly not a farewell.”
If ousted, Bayrou has no intention of disappearing from the stage. He hinted at a return to activism, perhaps even another presidential run: “When you are overturned, that is when militancy begins, when the fight begins, when meeting the French begins.”
France's Bayrou puts debt decision to lawmakers, risking fall of government
Reaction from Left and Right
The interview drew sharp reaction, with France Unbowed MP Eric Coquerel mocking it as part of an “endless farewell tour.” Faure himself described it as “pathetic and crepuscular,” while National Rally deputy Sébastien Chenu called Bayrou a “shipwrecked Prime Minister, at the end of his rope.”
Behind the political theatre looms a deeper uncertainty. If Bayrou falls, President Emmanuel Macron will need to appoint a new Prime Minister.
Names already circulating include prominent poltical figures like labour minister Catherine Vautrin, defence minister Sébastien Lecornu and justice minister Gérald Darmanin.
Meanwhile, several senior figures sounded the alarm at the weekend. Former Prime Minister Manuel Valls warned against “collective suicide, not for the government but for the country,” urging compromise.
Justice Minister Darmanin appealed for responsibility among mainstream parties, while France’s top public spending watchdog, Pierre Moscovici, cautioned that the financial situation was “not critical, but certainly worrying.”
