Emmanuel Macron gave full backing to Prime Minister François Bayrou as Bayrou prepares a confidence vote on 8 September to secure support for austerity measures. Bayrou seeks approval for a €44bn budget squeeze including scrapping two public holidays and freezing most welfare spending to reduce public debt. Opposition parties plan to vote to oust Bayrou, whose polls mark him as the least popular prime minister since 1958. Government spokesperson Sophie Primas said the administration is in a fighting spirit and argued the budget proposals are necessary to reassure financial markets amid parliamentary fragmentation.
France is a solid country with solid economics but we must take the reins of our destiny, Primas said.
It's a strong signal that we are sending to the financial markets that we want to have a France that is even more solid.
Bayrou, a centrist and Macron ally, announced this week he would call a confidence vote for 8 September, seeking parliament's support for his austerity measures to cut public spending and reduce public debt.
Primas said Macron believed there should be neither denial nor catastrophising about the state of France's public finances and that opposition parties must show responsibility.
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