The traditional post-summer rentrée feels almost incomplete without an accompanying political crisis in France. And right on cue this year’s return from les grandes vacances has delivered – but in the form of a shock move that could collapse the government within a fortnight, plunging Europe’s second biggest economy into chaos.
Prime minister François Bayrou stunned the country on Monday by announcing he would seek a “back me or sack me” confidence vote in the national assembly on 8 September. For a minority prime minister, it is a risky gamble indeed – he has almost no chance of winning the vote, wrote Angelique Chrisafis, the Guardian’s Paris correspondent.
