The collapse of the government of the French prime minister, François Bayrouafter losing the vote of confidence in Parliament on Monday, it is part of the new chapter in the prolonged political crisis that this country is going through. It is already the fourth head of government that is forced to resign since 2024.
However, in the background of political seizure it beats a deeper problem: the over -indebtedness of France, which touches 114 % of its gross domestic product. This heavy burden is nothing more than the consequence of a public spending that, of extraordinary, became structural. To dimension it, it is enough to compare: in the Dominican Republic, public spending is equivalent to 20 % of GDP, while in France it reached more than 57 % in 2024, after having reached a historical peak of 61.7 % in 2020.
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Although in recent years there is a slight setback, 57.16 % of GDP in 2024 compared to 58.9 % in 2023, the expenditure level remains overwhelming. The problem is exacerbated because the country has fallen into a double trap: a very high indebtedness and increasingly meager economic growth. French GDP expanded 2.6 % in 2022, but decreased to 0.9 % in 2023, only 1.2 % in 2024 and is projected in a weak 0.6 % by 2025.
To this table is added another limiting: the difficulty of widening public income. France already supports one of the highest fiscal pressures in Europe, almost 45 % of GDP, compared to 15 % in the Dominican Republic.
So the only exit that is glimpsed is a severe fiscal adjustment, inevitably focused on spending.
Aware of that urgency, Prime Minister Bayrou dared to raise a cut of about 51,000 million dollars in the 2026 budget. He did it with the lucidity of the one who warns the storm and with the courage to tell Parliament: “You can overthrow the government, but you cannot erase reality.”
Parliament denied him trust. And so, “who raised his voice with courage to show the road and prevent storm, today walks alone, without the coat of those whom he wanted to save.”
