For Bayrou, "the question" of September 8 is "not the destiny of the Prime Minister" but "the destiny of France"

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

This interview given to franceinfo, LCI, BFMTV and Cnews is "certainly not a goodbye," said Mr. Bayrou, while the first secretary of the Socialist Party, Olivier Faure, declared on Sunday "irrevocable" the decision of the socialists to refuse confidence, adding that it was time for the head of government to say "goodbye."

"Olivier Faure, what does he want? He wants to be at Matignon," he dismissed.

"I think precisely that the coming days are crucial." And "if you imagine that I can abandon the battles that I am waging, that I am waging here, that I was waging before, for years, and that I will continue to wage after, you are wrong," he insisted.

"Almost all French people know perfectly well that a country in debt is a country that no longer has its sovereignty, that no longer has its freedom," insisted the head of government, who caused a surprise by announcing on Monday that he would request a vote of confidence from the National Assembly on March 8, in support of his budgetary policy.

The opposition, including the National Rally and the Socialist Party, immediately announced that they were refusing to vote in favour.