France’s new prime minister, François Bayrou, says he hopes to name a government to lead the country out of its political quagmire by Christmas at the latest. France urgently needs to approve a state budget as official data on Friday showed public debt has climbed to €3.3 trillion.
France was plunged into fresh chaos earlier this month after the far right and left wing joined forces to eject Bayrou's predecessor, Michel Barnier, after just three months in office.
Speaking on Thursday, Bayrou said he hoped his new administration would “be presented... over the weekend” or “in any case before Christmas.”
He faces a huge challenge trying to form a cabinet from the divided parliament that felled Barnier after his minority administration failed to pass a state budget.
The new government’s priority will be to pass a budget capable of stabilising France’s finances without provoking further backlash over spending cuts and tax hikes.
"I hope that we can have it around mid-February. I'm not sure we'll get there," he told public broadcaster France 2.
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The urgency is heightened by new data from the INSEE statistics institute showing that France’s public debt grew by €71.7 billion in the third quarter, reaching €3.3 trillion.
This accounts for 113.7 percent of GDP, well above the European Union’s 60 percent threshold.
France has been in a state of political deadlock since President Emmanuel Macron gambled on snap elections in June.
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He hoped to bolster his authority but voters returned a parliament fractured between three rival blocs, with his centrist movement a roughly similar size to the leftist NFP alliance and the far right National Rally.
Both of those camps have urged the government to reverse some of Macron's flagship reforms, including the 2023 law to raise the state pension age from 62 to 64 years old.
The measure, pushed through parliament without a vote, triggered widespread protests earlier this year.
Bayrou said he was open to reexamining the pension age question.
"But we'll also have to ask ourselves the question of how to finance it," he added, warning that he would not suspend the reform.
When asked if he would use Article 49.3 – a constitutional tool that allows the government to pass laws without parliamentary approval – Bayrou said he would only resort to it if there was a “total deadlock on the budget.”
(with AFP)
