French Prime Minister François Bayrou announced that he would submit his government to a vote of confidence in the National Assembly on September 8, amid widespread anger over the proposed 2026 budget. Citing concerns about high public debt, Bayrou is pushing a new round of austerity, extending attacks on workers’ rights and social security. Proposed measures include eliminating public holidays, gutting public services, and freezing social benefits.

Trade unions had begun to mount a response before Bayrou’s recent announcement. Groups such as Solidaires and the General Confederation of Labor (Confédération générale du travail, CGT) denounced the prime minister’s plan for placing the burden on the working class while protecting the rich. They noted that large corporations have emerged unscathed from previous austerity rounds, continuing to benefit from subsidies and funnel billions in dividends, while workers are being asked to make further sacrifices to stabilize debt.

“While he [Bayrou] wants to offer employers free working days by eliminating two public holidays, he has also announced his intention to take another step in dismantling the protections offered by the labor code and collective agreements,” Solidaires said, referring to measures that would destabilize working conditions and contribute to precarization.

“Cutting public services is a choice. Not taxing the ultra-rich is a choice. Refusing to tax large corporations is a choice,” the union group added. “Pretending there is no alternative is an attempt to avoid debate about the kind of society we want.”

Read more: Austerity linked to over 1 million preventable deaths in EU

Public discontent has grown in parallel to that echoed by trade unions. The informal collective “Let’s Block Everything” (Bloquons tout*)* called for nationwide mobilizations on September 10, including strikes, blockades, boycotts, and other forms of collective action. Since then, local groups have planned actions in dozens of cities, with student unions among those joining the call.

While the 2026 budget is the immediate trigger, the roots of the discontent lie in decades of anti-worker policies, championed also by President Emmanuel Macron since he first came to power in 2017. “If public debt has increased in recent years, it is because the deficit has been widened by falling revenues,” Solidaires stated. “This decline in revenues is mainly due to the fiscal policies implemented since Emmanuel Macron came to power, which have consistently favored the wealthiest individuals and large corporations through tax cuts, exemptions, and breaks.”

In 2024, after Macron’s centrist camp suffered a major blow in the European Parliament elections, he called a snap election. The progressive coalition New Popular Front (Nouveau Front Populaire) emerged as the relative winner. Yet Macron chose to bypass the results, first appointing Michel Barnier – whose government fell in a confidence vote over another austerity budget – and later François Bayrou. During this period of political turbulence, progressives, particularly France Unbowed (La France Insoumise), have accused Macron of undermining democracy and pressed for a break with the neoliberal model through their economic program.

Read more: No middle ground: New Popular Front to face National Rally in French election

France Unbowed has also endorsed the September 10 protests, calling for broad mobilization to stop further attacks on the working class and to hold Macron accountable. “Emmanuel Macron must go,” Jean-Luc Mélenchon of France Unbowed said recently. “He is responsible for the crisis. He must take responsibility before the voters.”

Given the current balance of forces in parliament, Bayrou could easily lose the confidence vote. But even if he resigns, progressive forces insist the protests must continue to resist the austerity agenda dominating politics in France.

The post Will another French prime minister fall over the austerity budget? appeared first on Peoples Dispatch.

From Peoples Dispatch via this RSS feed