France faces a fresh budget battle that threatens to topple another government as debt costs spiral

Pedestrians walk past the Eiffel Tower in Paris on September 8, 2026.Lou Benoist | Afp | Getty ImagesFrance is paying an ever-higher risk premium on its debt as investors brace for a third straight year of drama over its annual budget, which threatens to topple yet another leader. The yield on the country's 10-year government bonds — known as OATs — popped above 4.5% on Friday for the first time since 2008, and has since held above that threshold. It was last seen trading with a yield of 4.53% on Wednesday.France's 10-year yield is now more than one percentage point higher than the payout on German 10-year bonds for the first time since the height of the euro zone sovereign debt crisis in 2012. The market continues to demand greater compensation for lending to France than it does to Italy or Greece — the problem children of the crisis. Further across the yield curve, France has some of the highest government borrowing costs in the G7 group of advanced economies. On Saturday, the French finance ministry said it expects national debt to reach a ​record high of 119.3% of gross domestic product in 2026, ‌with a projected debt-to-GDP ratio of 121.7% in 2027. But ever since France's July...