Headlines
France's far-right RN urges snap elections
Published by Global Banking and Finance Review
Posted on September 2, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 22, 2026
Global Banking and Finance Review
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Published by Global Banking and Finance Review
Posted on September 2, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 22, 2026
France's National Rally demands snap elections, challenging Macron's government amid rising bond yields and political instability.
PARIS (Reuters) -France's far-right National Rally urged President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday to swiftly dissolve parliament and call snap elections, adding that Prime Minister Francois Bayrou's efforts to stave off the collapse of his government would fail.
The RN and other opposition parties have said they will bring down the minority government in a September 8 confidence vote, which Bayrou unexpectedly announced last week as he seeks to push through unpopular plans for a budget squeeze in 2026.
That helped push France's 30-year government bond yields to their highest levels in over 16 years on Tuesday, driven by fiscal concerns.
"There has been no miracle, this meeting ... won't make the RN change its mind," RN president Jordan Bardella said after he and Marine Le Pen, the dominant force in the anti-immigration party, met with Bayrou.
"We call for an ultra-quick dissolution (of parliament), so that the new majority that will come out of these elections can build up a budget (for the country)," Le Pen told reporters.
The parties that have said they will vote against Bayrou - including the RN and Socialists - together have enough votes to trigger the fall of the government.
If Bayrou does lose, Macron can appoint a new prime minister, ask Bayrou to stay on in a caretaker capacity for some time, or decide to call snap parliamentary elections.
Macron called a snap parliamentary election in June last year that was widely seen as a failed gamble, further weakening him and delivering an even more fragmented parliament. Opinion polls show new elections would deliver another hung parliament, but with the RN likely stronger.
Any new prime minister would be the fifth since Macron's re-election three years ago.
Amid concerns over the political uncertainty, France's 30-year government bond yields hit their highest since June 2009 on Tuesday at 4.513%, up 6.5 basis points.
"The reality is that a successor to Bayrou would likely suffer the same fate, with opposition parties opposing any meaningful fiscal consolidation," Nomura analysts said in a note.
(Reporting by Ingrid Melander and Sudip Kar-Gupta; writing by Ingrid Melander, editing by Alexandra Hudson)
The National Rally urged President Emmanuel Macron to swiftly dissolve parliament and call for snap elections.
The confidence vote scheduled for September 8 could lead to the fall of Macron's minority government if opposition parties, including the RN and Socialists, vote against Prime Minister Bayrou.
France's 30-year government bond yields reached their highest levels since June 2009 at 4.513%, driven by concerns over political uncertainty and fiscal issues.
If Bayrou loses, Macron may appoint a new prime minister, keep Bayrou in a caretaker role, or call for snap parliamentary elections.
Analysts suggest that a successor to Bayrou would likely face similar challenges, with opposition parties likely to oppose any significant fiscal consolidation efforts.
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