“It was a question famously asked by Charles de Gaulle: ‘How can anyone govern a country with 246 varieties of cheese?’ Six decades later, France seems no closer to an answer.
Prime Minister François Bayrou, less than a year into his tenure, faces a confidence vote in parliament that could make him the fourth premier to fall within just 20 months. His political survival rests on winning backing for a €44 billion savings plan that scraps two public holidays and freezes spending. Bayrou has warned that the reforms are essential for “national survival,” stressing that France’s debt grows by €12 million every hour.
Yet this push for fiscal discipline has already undone his predecessor, Michel Barnier. The former EU Brexit negotiator lasted only three months as prime minister before resigning over his inability to secure public and parliamentary support for similar cuts.
France’s turmoil is already rattling financial markets. Borrowing costs have surged, with 10-year bond yields rising above those of Spain, Portugal, and Greece, edging dangerously close to Italy’s. The instability undermines President Emmanuel Macron’s image as a strong European leader and deepens fears about France’s economic direction.
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The roots of the crisis trace back to Macron’s gamble in 2024, when he called a snap parliamentary election after the far-right National Rally’s strong showing in the European polls. His party lost heavily to both far-right and far-left blocs, leaving France with a divided Assembly and no clear majority.
The irony is stark. The Fifth Republic, founded by de Gaulle in 1958, was designed precisely to prevent such instability, granting broad executive powers and a majority voting system to avoid fragile governments. For decades, mainstream parties alternated in power under this framework.
But Macron shattered that order in 2017, becoming the first president elected without the support of either major party. Though re-elected in 2022, he soon lost his parliamentary majority, ushering in two years of fragile rule where he repeatedly invoked Article 49.3 to bypass votes—fueling public anger.
