Embattled French PM faces ousting in confidence vote on debt burden plan

France's embattled prime minister, Francois Bayrou, looks likely to be ousted and his government toppled next month in a high-stakes confidence vote that could plunge the EU's second biggest economy into even deeper political crisis.

- Jon Henley

Bayrou said yesterday he would seek parliamentary backing for his unpopular plans to shore up France's ailing public finances on 8 September, asking deputies to "confirm the scale" of spending cuts he says are needed to save €44bn (£38bn) a year.

"We face an immediate danger, which we must tackle...otherwise we have no future," he said of the country's huge debt burden, adding that the vote would focus on whether MPs agreed with the gravity of the danger, and chose the path to fix it.

"There are moments...when only a calculated risk can allow you to escape a more serious risk," the prime minister said. "It is a matter of the survival of our state, the image of our nation, and each and every family."