President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday gave his “full support” to France’s embattled prime minister, who has called a confidence vote that could see his government collapse next month.
Prime Minister Francois Bayrou said he would request the confidence vote in a bitterly divided parliament on September 8, as he tries to garner enough support for his plan to slash spending.
But the main opposition parties said they would not back the prime minister’s plan, with the far-right urging Macron to call new parliamentary elections and the hard-left saying the president himself must go.
Macron, now on his sixth prime minister since taking office in 2017, chaired a meeting of his cabinet on Wednesday.
The president has given his “full support” to Bayrou’s initiative, spokeswoman Sophie Primas told reporters after the meeting.
Macron also called on France’s political parties “to act responsibly”, Primas added.
The French president is weighing his options as he seeks to contain the looming political crisis.
If the government falls after the September 8 vote, he could appoint a new prime minister, dissolve parliament again or resign.
Macron gambled on snap polls last summer in a bid to head off the far-right and bolster his authority, but the move backfired and left a deadlocked parliament.
Even some members of Macron’s camp now believe calling new elections might be the only solution.
“No one wants it, but it is inevitable,” a senior member of the presidential team told AFP on condition of anonymity.
The president has said he wants to avoid dissolving parliament again but has also suggested he could not rule out the option.
One of Macron’s former prime ministers, Gabriel Attal, said he would do everything to help the current government to remain in power.
“The problem does not lie with the French, but with the Assembly itself,” Attal told France Inter on Wednesday, referring to France’s lower house of parliament.
“In almost all the European countries around us, they have assemblies with fragmented forces. And yet they manage to work together and find solutions.”
– ‘Political impasse’ –
The government has been facing discontent from the left and the right, with critics accusing the authorities of failing to take decisive action on issues like the spiralling cost of living, immigration and crime.
Separately, a broad anti-government campaign dubbed “Bloquons tout” (“Let’s block everything”) has acted as a lightning rod for other criticisms including a lack of action on the environment.
The movement has been backed by the left has urged a nationwide shutdown on September 10.
Bayrou has vowed to “fight like a dog” to stay in power and is expected to discuss the vote of confidence on television on Wednesday evening.
On Tuesday, Bayrou told France’s rival political forces they had a dozen days to “say whether they are on the side of chaos or responsibility”.
After years of overspending, France is on notice to control its public deficit and cut its sprawling debt, as required under EU rules.
Bayrou’s government and economic analysts have warned that France’s debt is unsustainable, particularly as interest rate rises push up the cost of borrowing.
Bayrou said he wanted to save about 44 billion euros ($51 billion) with measures that include reducing the number of public holidays and placing a freeze on spending increases.
In mid-July, he presented 2026 budget proposals but the measures have proved deeply unpopular.
Political jockeying is heating up ahead of the presidential election in 2027, when Macron’s second term is set to end, and the far-right senses a real chance to come to power.
“There is only one way out of this political impasse we find ourselves in, and that is to return to the polls,” Jordan Bardella, head of the far-right National Rally party, told TF1 on Tuesday evening.
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