PARIS (AP) — France risks losing its third prime minister in 12 months on Monday, with incumbent François Bayrou facing a parliamentary confidence vote that he called but is widely expected to lose, heralding more instability for the European Union’s second-largest economy.
The 74-year-old centrist prime minister, appointed by President Emmanuel Macron just under nine months ago, is gambling that the vote will unite lawmakers in the sharply divided National Assembly behind proposed public spending cuts that Bayrou argues are needed to rein in France’s spiraling state deficit and debts.
But opposition lawmakers are vowing to instead use the opportunity to topple Bayrou and his minority government of centrist and right-wing ministers, an upheaval that would force Macron to begin what could be another arduous hunt for a replacement.
A Key Vote
The National Assembly of 577 lawmakers is interrupting its summer recess for the extraordinary session that Bayrou requested, starting at 3 p.m. (1300 GMT; 0900 EDT) Monday.
