France's excessive debt pile is "life-threatening" for the country, Prime Minister Francois Bayrou said Monday as he defended billions of euros of budget cuts ahead of a confidence vote expected to bring down his government.
Defending his decision to call a vote he is widely expected to lose, Bayrou added: "The biggest risk was not to take one, to let things continue without anything changing... and have business as usual".
"France did not have a balanced budget for 51 years," he added, saying his government had put forward a plan so that France could "in a few years time escape the inexorable tide of debt that is submerging it".
"You have the power to overthrow the government" but not "to erase reality," Bayrou told the MPs, who are expected to eject his minority administration in a vote later Monday.
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French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou looks set to fall in a confidence vote in parliament after just nine months in the job, sparking fresh political uncertainty for France and piling pressure on President Emmanuel Macron.
ReplyDeleteMr Bayrou blindsided even his allies by calling a confidence vote to end a months-long standoff over his austerity budget, which foresees almost €44bn of cost savings to reduce France's debt pile.
Opposition parties across the board have made it clear they will vote against his minority government, making it highly improbable he will get enough backing to survive - he needs a majority of the 577 MPs in the National Assembly.