PARIS: France found itself mired in yet another crisis on Tuesday, after Prime Minister Francois Bayrou’s gamble to win backing for his deeply unpopular debt-reduction plan backfired, plunging the country deeper into political and financial instability. French markets tumbled after Bayrou jolted the political establishment out of its summer slumber on Monday with his unexpected move to seek a September 8 confidence vote on his debt-cutting plan.

If he loses the confidence vote, French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou's minority government will fall.

French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou will hold a high-stakes confidence vote in parliament on September 8 over unpopular plans to clean up France’s public finances.