"The coming days are crucial," a week before his probable fall, Bayrou does not want to give up anything

"The coming days are crucial. If you think I can abandon the battles I've been fighting for years and will continue to fight afterward, you're wrong," he said during a rather rambling interview from his office, broadcast on all four news channels.

The Prime Minister, who announced earlier this week his intention to seek a vote of confidence from the National Assembly on September 8, said the "issue" at stake was not "the fate of the Prime Minister" but "the fate of France."

The left and the National Rally have since continued to insist that they would vote against the confidence vote, making the fall of the head of government almost inevitable.

"If the government falls, as (the opposition) hopes, as they announce (...) it means that we will change policy. We will abandon the policy that I believe is vital for the country" for "another" policy that is "more lax," "more adrift," the Prime Minister pleaded.

While Mr. Bayrou will be meeting with party and parliamentary group leaders who wish to do so from Monday, ahead of a high-risk vote, he has once again said he is open to negotiation "if they wish" on the most controversial measures in his 44 billion savings plan, such as the elimination of two public holidays.

However, he rejected the budgetary proposals of the Socialist Party, which "volunteered" to succeed him at Matignon, and which proposed on Saturday to reduce the deficit by 21.7 billion euros in 2026, with the key to an increase in revenue, through a tax on high net worth individuals.

"The Socialist Party's proposals mean that we are doing nothing" to reduce the debt, he dismissed.

The announcement of a vote of confidence by the Prime Minister came as a surprise on Monday, with many suspecting the mayor of Pau of wanting to take the lead in censoring his budget in the autumn.

"The Prime Minister will not change the minds of the National Rally group chaired by Marine Le Pen in the National Assembly (...) We will vote against his request for confidence," RN vice-president Sébastien Chenu insisted on RTL on Sunday.

"He will have to leave on September 8. He is making his farewell tour (...) The only word I expect from him now is to say goodbye," said the first secretary of the Socialist Party, Olivier Faure, on BFMTV.

"Olivier Faure, what does he want? He wants to be at Matignon," replied Mr. Bayrou, saying that his interview is "certainly not a goodbye."

"Collective suicide"?

The vote, which is expected to take place on Monday afternoon, the 8th, opens a new period of uncertainty, with Emmanuel Macron at the forefront, in an eruptive social context.

The head of state, ordered by the RN and LFI to resign or dissolve the National Assembly, will undoubtedly have to immediately start looking for a new Prime Minister. The names of Catherine Vautrin, Sébastien Lecornu, Gérald Darmanin, and Xavier Bertrand are circulating again.

The President of the Republic reiterated his support for his Prime Minister in Toulon on Friday, who "is right to hold political and parliamentary forces accountable" for the country's dismal budgetary situation.

"France needs a budget on time," given a financial situation that is "not critical, but still worrying," the first president of the Court of Auditors, Pierre Moscovici, stressed on LCI on Sunday.

Several government figures expressed alarm at the political situation on Sunday. "Do we want collective suicide, not for the government, but for the country?" former Prime Minister Manuel Valls asked on France Inter, urging everyone to "find the path of dialogue and compromise."

Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin, for his part, called on the governing parties to act responsibly at a time when the "stability" of institutions is at stake. "I think that we are capable of extending a hand and that they themselves are capable of extending a hand to save what is essential, that is to say, our institutions," he said on the occasion of his political return to Tourcoing, citing LR and the PS, "a major governing party."