When Prime Minister François Bayrou conducts a crucial confidence vote next month over his controversial €43.8 billion budget squeeze, it looks like the minority government in France will be overthrown.
When Bayrou announced on Monday that he would call parliamentarians to an extraordinary meeting on September 8, two weeks before they were scheduled to resume work, it sent shockwaves through the French political establishment.
According to Bayrou, "you have to acknowledge the situation when the house is burning or when you are about to sink." "Since our freedom is on the line, I will not allow our nation to fall into this danger."
Although the chances seem to be against the longstanding centrist, Bayrou is betting that parliamentarians would at least agree that France's grave financial condition needs to be fixed. Marine Le Pen and other leaders of the far-right National Rally and far-left France Unbowed have already pledged to help overthrow the government.
Instead of just abstaining, the prime minister needs the Socialists to vote for his administration in order to survive, a possibility that party leader Olivier Faure denied in an interview with Le Monde. The breakdown of retirement reform negotiations earlier this year has left the center-left party still incensed with Bayrou.
"It is obviously inconceivable that the Socialists would vote in favor of the prime minister," Faure stated.
Later in the legislative process, a vote of confidence was anticipated for Bayrou. Bayrou is essentially choosing to speed up his demise and confront the possibility of a government collapse head-on by calling one two days before a statewide closure scheduled for September 10 and before the French legislative officially resumes operations.
"There are times in life when you can only avoid a more serious risk by taking a calculated risk," Bayrou stated. "Our state's survival, our country's reputation, and every single family are all at stake."
It was seen differently by one government adviser. After the press conference, she was heard saying, "It's better to die by suicide than to suffer in agony."
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