France's debt crisis: Prime Minister François Bayrration voted with confidence about cutting expenses, Macron is looking for new premier

Lawmakers in France on Monday (September 8) overthrew Prime Minister François Bayrou in a quick confidence of 364-194, which plunged the second largest economy of Europe into a new political crisis. President Emmanuel Macron is now facing the challenge of appointing a fourth prime minister in 12 months. Bayrou’s minority government, which was appointed last December, fell after a failed venture to ensure parliamentary support for deep cuts of public expenses aimed at addressing France’s balloon debt. Bayrou cut over the spending, Bayrou sought a confidence to push € 44 billion ($ 51 billion) in reducing 2026 expenses, to a 5.8% GDP deficit last year, far above the EU ceiling of 3%. “The biggest risk was not to take one, to make things go on without changing anything, as usual,” Bayrra told the National Assembly in his final speech. “The submission to debt is like submission by military power. By dominated by weapons, or dominated by our creditors … we lose our freedom.” Instead of consolidating support, unifying legislators of leftist and right -wing parties to expel his government, which emphasizes the fragility of Macron’s centric alliance in a split parliament. Macron’s unsafe political landscape Macron, 47, retains control over foreign policy and national security, but its domestic ambitions are increasingly threatened. The president’s decision to dissolve the National Assembly in June 2024 returned, leaving his pro-European centrical block without a workable majority. The Bayrou Authority follows the short term of terms of Gabriel Attal and Michel Barnier as prime minister, which underlines Macron’s struggle to maintain parliamentary support. Rising opposition prints Marine Le Pen, leader of the right -wing national rally, asked for another legislative election. “A large country like France cannot live with a paper government, especially not in a tormented and dangerous world,” Le Pen said in the National Assembly, which indicated her party’s readiness to seize power if another election is held. The pressure on economic challenges France’s public debt stood at the end of the first quarter 2025 € 346 trillion, or 114% of GDP. The next Macron Prime Minister will inherit the urgent budget challenges of Bayrou, along with international concerns, including wars in Ukraine and Gaza and US policy under President Donald Trump. Bayrou warned that the failure to cut expenses would exacerbate the debt crisis: ‘You have the power to overthrow the government, but you do not have the power to eradicate reality. Reality will remain relentless. The spending will continue to increase and the debt burden – already unbearable – will become heavier and more expensive. ‘ (With AP inputs)