2026 budget: French prime minister calls for confidence vote on September 8
François Bayrou warns that France faces ‘immediate danger’ if no action is taken and that debt is growing by €12million every hour
Prime Minister Francoise Bayrou wants to bring down France's soaring budget deficit
LE PICTORIUM Alamy Stock Photo
Update 18:30: Reaction to Mr Bayrou's speech - The Rassemblement National (RN, on the far-right) and La France Insoumise (LFI, on the far-left) have announced their intention to vote to topple the government. The RN holds 123 seats out of a total of 577 in parliament and the LFI holds 71. If the total amount of votes to topple the government reaches 289, this will form a majority and the vote would succeed.
French Prime Minister François Bayrou has announced he will seek a parliamentary vote of confidence in the lead up to debate on his 2026 budget plan, warning that France faces an “immediate danger” of spiraling debt if action is not taken.
Speaking at a press conference on Monday afternoon, August 25, Mr Bayrou announced that he has requested that a vote of confidence be held at a special session of parliament on September 8.
The move is intended to consolidate support before parliamentary debates on the budget resume later in the month.
He added that pushing the budget through without a vote using Article 49.3 “is not an absurd notion, but not tenable in the debate.”
The vote announcement comes as opposition parties prepare censure motions that could potentially topple Mr Bayrou, as happened to his predecessor Michel Barnier in 2024.
La France Insoumise far-left party has already pledged to file such a motion on September 23 - Socialist leaders have said they may support it, and the Rassemblement National (far right) has also threatened to join.
LFI’s Jean-Luc Mélenchon declared at the weekend that he was “almost certain the censure motion will be passed.”
Unions and protest groups are also mobilising.
The vote of confidence will be two days before the date called for a mass nationwide blockade by a mystery group under the banner Bloquons tout on September 10.
Other strike action is planned by energy workers on September 2, taxi drivers on September 5, railway unions on September 10, and pharmacists on September 18.
‘Debt is growing by €12million every hour’
Mr Bayrou said the country was at a “preoccupying and decisive” moment after the huge growth of France’s debt during the years of the Covid-19 pandemic and the energy crisis, which saw a public spending boom.
“Our country is in danger because we are on the brink of over-indebtedness,” he said. “This year, debt will be the largest item in the budget.”
“And yes, I do hear my compatriots who say ‘There is no reason why we should have to make an effort’... but the truth is the debt was accrued for each of us.”
He added that “France cannot ignore this danger, cannot do nothing,” citing the example of the UK under Prime Minister Lizz Truss, who was forced to resign after 42 days due to pressure from the financial markets.
He argued that France’s dependence on debt had become “chronic,” adding that it had risen by €2,000billion over the past 20 years, or €12million every hour.
The government’s plan, first presented on July 15, foresees €43.8billion in savings and new revenues. Measures under discussion include “une année blanche” (a fiscal white year - in which certain spending and tax band thresholds are not adjusted upwards for year-on-year inflation), a tax on small parcels, a contribution from the wealthiest households, and the suppression of two public holidays. He said the suppression of the holidays was open for discussion and could be changed.
Mr Bayrou repeated that while the overall figure was “intangible,” the measures themselves were “open to discussion” and “amendable.”
The conference marked the political rentrée for the prime minister, who worked through the summer at Matignon before meeting President Macron at Brégançon last week.
The president has offered him firm backing, calling the centrist prime minister “my companion of the road” in Paris Match and describing the budget plan as “lucid and courageous.”
The 2026 budget will be formally debated during the autumn session of parliament, with the September 8 confidence vote now set to be the first major test of Mr Bayrou’s premiership.
“Concerning the problem of our debt, the choice is to do something or do nothing - and to do nothing is extremely serious. I am entrusting this question of our survival into the hands of each member of parliament”
