The writer advises the Observatory Group and is a senior fellow at the German Council on Foreign Relations 

After having tried to prepare the French public and political class for the inevitability of a tough budget of tax rises and spending cuts, Prime Minister Fran?ois Bayrou seems to have thrown in the towel. Indeed, by deciding to call for a vote of confidence on September 8, he has chosen to expose that he doesn’t have the majority to govern and that France doesn’t have a parliament prepared to face the reality of its yawning public deficit.

Earlier this year, Bayrou had asked President Emmanuel Macron to submit his broad fiscal plan to a referendum, and to pave the way for an electoral reform introducing proportional representation (a nod to far-right leader Marine Le Pen). With that he hoped not only to start the necessary process of fiscal consolidation but also create the political momentum to prepare for the presidential election in 2027. Macron flatly rejected the demand, leaving the frustrated prime minister with limited options.