Early September promises to be a major test for French Prime Minister François Bayrou, as he battles to push through the 2026 budget amid high tensions ready to boil over and the prospect of looming large-scale social unrest on September 10th. At a press conference, he struck a determined tone on passing a responsible budget to start dealing with the country’s excessive debt, but failed to convince either the Right or the Left.
At the start of his press conference on Monday, August 25th, the prime minister recalled some dramatic figures to justify his course of action: “For 20 years, every hour of every day and every night, the debt has increased by €12 million.” For the coming year, the debt burden will become the nation’s largest budget item.
Bayrou hopes to ward off a nationwide blockade announced for September 10th, as mobilisations gather momentum on both the Right and the Left. Echoing the spirit of the Yellow Vests, protesters are rallying under the blunt slogan “Block everything!” (Bloquons tout!) In Bayrou’s view, this is not the time for blockades, but for individual and collective responsibility. Throughout August, he tried to connect with the public through a series of seven YouTube videos. But with dismal viewing figures, the effort only underscored his failure to turn opinion in his favour.
Bayrou’s main announcement was that he had asked the president, during a private meeting, to organise a vote of confidence in the National Assembly on September 8th, two days before the national mobilisation. The prime minister hopes to obtain a vote of support during the government’s general policy statement. A favourable vote would weaken the popular movement. If he fails to get the support, François Bayrou said “action”would be “impossible”—though he has not specified what course he would take as a result.
The prime minister lamented that the last few weeks have been dominated by debates over individual measures announced at his last press conference on July 15th, rather than focusing on the bigger picture: “the seriousness of the situation and the urgency” and “the need to spend less.” The details of the announced plan are negotiable, he insisted, but not the scale of the effort. For the time being, he has failed to convince either the Left, which criticises him for his lack of interest in environmental issues and social justice, or the Right, which is waiting in vain for structural reforms on immigration, social fraud, and contributions to the European budget.
Bayrou did not clearly state his position on the potential use of Article 49.3 of the constitution to force through the budget in the absence of a majority in the National Assembly. He limited himself to vague remarks, saying that all measures were “debatable” and that nothing was “set in stone,” before concluding that resorting to Article 49.3 was, ultimately, not “an absurd idea.”
The Rassemblement National (RN) announced that it would not support the vote of confidence on September 8th and is calling for the dissolution of parliament. The Greens, communists and La France Insoumise (LFI) will do the same. The fate of the government is therefore in the hands of the Socialist group.
