France’s prime minister, François Bayrou, faced a parliamentary confidence vote Monday that he called himself but is widely expected to lose, a showdown that could mark the third resignation of a prime minister in 12 months and deepen political instability in the European Union’s second-largest economy.
The National Assembly convened an extraordinary session at 3 p.m. (1300 GMT; 0900 EDT) after Bayrou delivered a speech urging lawmakers to back his proposal for sharp public spending cuts aimed at reining in France’s rising deficit and debt. Debate and the formal vote were scheduled for later in the day; Bayrou needed a majority of the 577-member assembly to vote in favor to remain in office. Lawmakers can also abstain, but France’s constitution requires the prime minister to submit his government’s resignation to President Emmanuel Macron if a majority votes against it.
Bayrou, 74, who was appointed by President Emmanuel Macron just under nine months ago, framed the spending reductions as necessary to repair public finances after France ran a budget deficit of about 5.8% of gross domestic product last year, well above the European Union ceiling of 3%. He has proposed cutting 44 billion euros ($51 billion) in 2026 and has included measures such as removing two public holidays. France’s public debt stood at about 3.346 trillion euros, or 114% of GDP, at the end of the first quarter of 2025, and debt servicing accounts for roughly 7% of state spending.
Opposition lawmakers said they would use the vote to bring down Bayrou’s minority government, which is composed of centrists and right-wing ministers. Political groups on the far right and the left, who do not agree on most policies, together hold more than 320 seats in the 577-seat assembly and have publicly vowed to unite against Bayrou. Centrist lawmakers and allied conservatives hold about 210 seats.
Bayrou expressed frustration at what he described as an unlikely alliance of political enemies intent on unseating him. "What's the point of bringing down the government? These are political groups that not only don't agree on anything but, far worse than that, are waging open civil war against each other," he told online outlet Brut on Sunday.
The confidence vote follows a year of political turbulence that began when Macron dissolved the National Assembly in June 2024 in a bid to strengthen his pro-European centrist alliance. The gamble backfired, producing a splintered legislature with no dominant bloc. Shorn of a workable majority, Macron has rotated through three prime ministers. Gabriel Attal left the premiership in September 2024 after eight months in the job; Michel Barnier briefly followed and became the shortest-serving prime minister in modern French history after a no-confidence vote in December. Bayrou succeeded Barnier and has faced the same parliamentary arithmetic that made governing difficult for his predecessors.
If Bayrou loses the vote and resigns, Macron will be obliged to appoint a successor who will confront the same fractured assembly and pressing fiscal problems. Macron, 47, has said he will remain in office through the end of his second and final term in 2027, but repeated government changes and legislative deadlock have limited his ability to pursue domestic policy goals.
The outcome of Monday’s vote will determine whether Bayrou stays on to press his spending-cut agenda or whether France enters another period of searching for a government able to command confidence in a deeply divided National Assembly. Either result is likely to shape Paris’s fiscal strategy and its political positioning in Europe as it grapples with rising debt levels and pressure to meet EU budget rules.