As Europe goes back to school, it already had plenty on its plate. Now – on top of inflation, extreme weather, the AI race, Russian threats and a no-longer-so-friendly United States, it’s got a new worry: France.
After last year’s baffling dissolution of parliament that bore a hung parliament, the prime minister’s now got six days to convince the opposition parties that hold his fate in their hands that he was right to preempt a raucous showdown over his austerity budget and call a vote of confidence next Monday. Like with Emmanuel Macron a year ago, François Bayrou didn’t have to put his neck on the line. But he did.
And if all goes to script next Monday, the centrist 74-year old mainstay of French politics will have to make way for Macron’s fifth prime minister since his re-election in 2022. Why the seemingly self-inflicted crisis? What are the president’s options? The far-left and far-right want the term-limited Macron to resign. Is it about the man or the system?
Next week’s vote’s only the start of it. Trade unions have latched on to a yellow vests-style day of action called for September 10th. Where it will lead? Hard to say in a nation where critics quip that citizens prefer revolution to reform. We’ll ask about a nation that fared better than most during Covid but never did shut the tap after on stimulus spending. Rising borrowing costs on French debt show that for markets and jittery neighbors, it’s time to pay the piper.
Produced by François Picard, Alessandro Xenos, Juliette Laffont, Ilayda Habip, Charles Wente.
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Damien LECOMTE Political Science Researcher, Paris Panthéon-Sorbonne University
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Philippe MOREAU-CHEVROLET Professor of political communication, Sciences Po
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Claire LEJEUNE Climate Activist
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Denis BARANGER Professor of Public Law, Panthéon-Assas University
English (US) · 