François Bayrou doesn’t do holidays. Luckily, the battle for the hearts and minds of French taxpayers is keeping him occupied.
The French prime minister has launched a series of videos, called “FB Direct,” to convince the public that the €43.8 billion budget squeeze he has planned for next year is not an act of sadism — but an unavoidable move to prevent a budget crisis.
“All politicians are going on a well-deserved vacation. I will not because the days we’re going to live through during these weeks of August and early September are absolutely crucial. This is the moment when everything is at stake,” Bayrou said in the first of these videos published on Tuesday.
Last month, during a two-hour press conference billed as “a moment of truth,” the French prime minister unveiled his draconian plans to drastically cut public spending in 2026.
The plans include slashing two of France’s 11 public holidays, reducing the number of civil servants and freezing welfare payments, including pensions, that are typically adjusted annually for inflation.
The plan triggered a wave of outrage from both the far-right National Rally and left-wing opposition parties, which are threatening to bring down the government during the budget vote in the fall.
But Bayrou is not giving up, and wants to at least convince voters that the cuts would be made in their own interest.
“When you’re forced to borrow — not to buy a house, an apartment, home furnishings or to buy a car, but simply to pay for everyday expenses — when you’re forced to borrow and you can’t pay it back without going every month to the bank to ask for an additional loan which is more and more expensive — that is call over-indebtedness,” Bayrou said.
His government is planning to bring France’s deficit — the difference between how much a country’s government spends and how much it receives in taxes — down from 5.8 percent of GDP last year to 4.6 percent in 2026.
So far, there are no signs that the French public have been convinced by Bayrou’s wake-up call. Only 12 percent of the French trust Bayrou, according to a survey published by pollster Elabe on July 31 — the lowest figure recorded since the poll began.
But Bayrou hopes the French will be ready to listen to him, or at least hear him out while they are scrolling YouTube videos during their holidays.
“The aim of this direct communication is for you to form your own opinion,” he said. “My certainty is that there is no other path than this bearable and chosen effort.”
