Three major opposition parties have announced they will vote against the government in the confidence motion scheduled for September 8.
Paris – Prime Minister François Bayrou’s minority administration is at risk of falling next month. On Monday, three key opposition parties declared they would oppose the upcoming confidence vote. The Socialists play a decisive role, as their support largely determines Bayrou’s fate. Party leader Olivier Faure told Le Monde that supporting Bayrou is out of the question, and he reiterated on TF1 that his party would not back the government. Previously, both the far-right National Rally and the Greens had stated they would withhold confidence.
Bayrou had sought to seize the initiative by announcing he would outline France’s financial challenges before the debate on the 2026 budget, which includes planned cuts of €43.8 billion. After this statement, he plans to put the confidence question to his center-right coalition.
Call for General Strike
The left has threatened a vote of no confidence over the proposed austerity measures. For weeks, calls have circulated for a general strike and nationwide protests on September 10, though the organizers remain unidentified.
The government lacks a parliamentary majority, and with such an uncertain political landscape, a collapse over the budget had already been considered likely.
Le Pen Confirms Opposition
In July, Bayrou survived a no-confidence vote initiated by the Socialists, as the left supported it but Marine Le Pen’s National Rally deputies did not. This time, Le Pen has confirmed her deputies will vote against Bayrou.
France’s public debt is now at 114 percent of GDP, among the highest in the eurozone.
If the government falls, President Emmanuel Macron could either appoint a new prime minister immediately, keep Bayrou as head of a caretaker government, or call for new elections. At the end of 2024, Macron lost his previous prime minister, Michel Barnier, after only three months due to a no-confidence vote over the budget.
