Prime Minister François Bayrou wanted to make his stance clear: Right now, all of France's political "leaders are heading off on well-deserved vacations, something I won't be doing," he said in a video entitled "FB Direct – Épisode 1," published on YouTube on Tuesday, August 5. For the summer parliamentary recess, Bayrou assigned himself a new role: that of communicator-in-chief, tasked with defending to the public the much-criticized 2026 budget guidelines, which he disclosed on July 15, aiming to achieve €44 billion in budget cuts.

The prime minister's "direct communication" operation was finalized three weeks ago, following the mid-July press conference in which he revealed the government's budget plans. In Tuesday's video, Bayrou continued to amplify the urgency of the threat posed by "overindebtedness," calling it "an evil that threatens [our] survival" and warning that major "sacrifices" would be inevitable if nothing was done to stem it.

Bayrou, who does not have the backing of a majority of MPs in the Assemblée Nationale, was determined not to let the budget debate slip from his grasp, especially as it has quickly become focused on the most unpopular measures – a "blank year" during which all welfare benefits would be frozen rather than adjusted for inflation; cutting two public holidays; and removing a 10% tax break for professional expenses that retirees currently benefit from.

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