Appointed prime minister on December 13, 2024, after forcing President Emmanuel Macron's hand, François Bayrou is expected – barring an unlikely last-minute reversal – to submit his resignation on Monday, September 8, after failing to secure the Assemblée Nationale's confidence. It's a lackluster ending that hardly seems like it will unsettle the prime minister. "There are worse disasters in life than the fall of a government," he downplayed on radio RTL on Friday, September 5, even as the departure of a second prime minister in less than a year is likely to further destabilize the country.

Bayrou's time as head of government will thus end with a leap into the void. The centrist has staked his government's future on the issue he considers most important: public debt. With the far right and the left having already pledged to vote against him, he is almost certain to be defeated. But, true to form, he remains convinced he has "moved the debate forward" in the public eye. "Bayrou always thinks he's right, but it's pointless to be right if you can't bring people along with you," said former Green MEP Daniel Cohn-Bendit.

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