Paris, August 29, 2025 – The Europe Today: France’s main far-right party on Thursday rejected a proposed budget compromise with Prime Minister François Bayrou, declaring it “too late” to reach a deal, raising questions about the stability of his premiership.
Bayrou has pinned his political survival on a confidence vote scheduled for September 8, following months of deadlock over the national budget and the government’s plan to slash public spending. However, with both far-right and left-wing parties vowing not to support him, analysts suggest his tenure, which began in December, may be cut short.
“Too late. Mr Prime Minister, you have missed many opportunities to construct a budget that benefits the French people,” National Rally (RN) deputy leader Sébastien Chenu told TF1 television. “The page has been turned. Dialogue is in the past.”
Bayrou, 74, had indicated on Wednesday that he would host party leaders for talks starting Monday, stressing that negotiations would only proceed if parties agreed to savings measures aimed at reducing France’s debt. His admission that he had not approached party leaders earlier during the summer while they were “on holiday” drew sharp criticism from Chenu, who called it “inadequate” and “disturbing.”
Should Bayrou lose the confidence vote, he and his entire government would be obliged to resign. President Emmanuel Macron could either reappoint him, select a new premier—the seventh since 2017—or call early elections to resolve the prolonged political deadlock.
Bayrou, however, warned that snap elections would not restore stability, noting that the 2024 summer elections left the RN as the largest single party in parliament. Multiple opinion polls indicate that a majority of the French public supports new legislative elections.
Acknowledging the difficulty of winning parliamentary approval, Bayrou stated, “Today, a priori, we cannot obtain this confidence, but we know that there has not been a majority for a long time.” He stressed the importance of reducing the national debt to support France’s youth, criticizing past policies that favored the post-war generation.
Bayrou’s challenge comes amid growing momentum for a broad anti-austerity movement, “Bloquons tout” (“Let’s block everything”), which calls for a nationwide shutdown on September 10.
