Bayrou defends his budget "regardless of the risk" of censure, opposition already threatens him

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At 4 p.m. on Tuesday, July 15, François Bayrou began his speech on reducing the debt. After a long introductory speech, he rattled off a long list of austerity measures, "regardless of the risk" of a motion of censure, the reason for Michel Barnier's fall in December 2024. The government "is not seeking to preserve itself, it is not seeking to last," the Prime Minister persisted before consciously recalling that it had "no majority," that it was "at the mercy of the opposition" and "at the mercy of its supporters' doubts." And, in fact, the various political sides quickly proclaimed their red lines and their threats of censure.

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Indeed, even before François Bayrou had released his coded PowerPoint and his improvised professorial air, at precisely 5:05 p.m., he was already under threat from the far right. "No RN MP will accept" the abolition of two public holidays, the Prime Minister's flagship measure this Tuesday, party leader Jordan Bardella made it clear on X (ex-Twitter), criticizing "a direct attack on our history, on our roots, and on the France of work."

The leader of the far-right MPs, Marine Le Pen, currently ineligible for election in 2027 after her conviction , then added: "If François Bayrou does not revise his copy, we will censor him," she threatened, this time after the end of the presentation of drastic savings for the 2026 budget . "Emmanuel Macron and François Bayrou are incapable of making real savings and are presenting yet another bill to the French," she lamented.

On the other side of the chessboard, the leader of La France insoumise (LFI) Jean-Luc Mélenchon directly called on X to "get Bayrou out" , judging that the Prime Minister's announcements to find 43.8 billion in savings in 2026 fueled "the race to the abyss" . And he declared: "It is urgent to put an end to Macronism". It is the fact of " sparing the very rich" in the next budget that seems to motivate Jean-Luc Mélenchon.

Mathilde Panot, president of the rebellious deputies, added: " We will censor this policy of misfortune " because " Bayrou is declaring social war ."

The same injustice has outraged the Socialists... who have not gone so far as to brandish the explicit threat of censure; last January, the Socialists had refrained from censuring the Prime Minister on the budget , thus distancing themselves from LFI. " This is not a blank year that is coming, but a black year for the French ," thundered Olivier Faure, the party leader, when the Landes MP Boris Vallaud castigated a " brutal " and " unacceptable " budget. Among the ecologists, too, the threat has not been brandished, for the time being.

François Bayrou's proposals will be discussed in Parliament this autumn during the examination of the 2026 finance bill, which must be submitted by the first Tuesday in October at the latest . Discussions are already shaping up to be very, very heated.