French premier Francois Bayrou had no choice but to resign after he lost the confidence vote in the country’s parliament by a wide margin, with 364 votes against him and 194 votes in favour. The immediate provocation for the confidence vote was the austerity measures in the proposed budget, not to mention scrapping of a few holidays, eventually proving to be his undoing. But the problems in France run much deeper than austerity measures or the likelihood of a shorter holiday list. France’s fiscal deficit is 5.8% of its GDP — the third-highest in the Eurozone after Greece and Italy — and its public debt is 116% of its GDP. It is to deal with this twin problem that Premier Bayrou had sought expenditure cuts of 44 billion euros. This was opposed by the people at large and indeed street protests are planned.

French President Emmanuel Macron, whose popularity is now at an all-time low, had three choices before him. One, to dissolve parliament and call for snap parliamentary elections, something he did in June 2024, which solved nothing and for which he has paid a huge political price already. With the political parties as divided as they are now, it is hard to see how another election will defuse the crisis, much less lead to a........

© hindustantimes