| When they can see the end approaching, there’s a tendency among some leaders to elevate the rhetoric, to make points that might echo into the future, to ensure they’ll be remembered, maybe even cited, when their time in the public eye is over. That’s the feeling one gets from the series of speeches this week by Prime Minister Francois Bayrou, after he surprised France with his announcement that he’d seek a confidence vote on Sept. 8 for his policies, namely his plan for the 2026 budget. Dotting his discourse with references from Greek theater, Shakespeare and French thinkers to Mario Draghi’s speech on the end of the EU’s “illusion” of power, Bayrou has been long on high-flown phrases and down-home descriptions of the weight of France’s debt on its citizens.  Bayrou, at a conference in Paris on Aug. 28, 2025. Photographer: Nathan Laine/Bloomberg It would be easy to mock the speeches or argue, as some have, that he’s already campaigning for the 2027 presidential election. But he makes a good point sometimes forgotten by politicians: without buy-in from citizens, difficult or ambitious policies simply don’t succeed. “A needed, urgent policy can’t be put in place if the French people don’t share the view of its need,” Bayrou said on Thursday, in his third speech of the week on the topic. “Without that it’s just a show of force.” While his analysis is spot-on, he remains far from getting the buy-in of most French people. A Toluna Harris Interactive poll released on Wednesday found that 68% of French adults wanted National Assembly members to reject the confidence motion. Bayrou himself has been upfront about the distance he still has to go on that front, saying he would push as hard as he can to change those views in the days leading up to the vote. When he took office, Bayrou talked about the “Himalayan” problems the country faced. He brought the term up again on Thursday, and said that he’s determined to keep climbing. In terms of popular support, though, he appears to be far from the summit. France’s political turmoil risks pushing the country into recession on uncertainty for consumers who had been driving growth, Carrefour SA Chief Executive Officer Alexandre Bompard said. The instability is also endangering a nascent economic recovery as companies hold off on hiring and investment. Pernod Ricard and Remy Cointreau are suggesting the worst may be over for the spirits market. Pernod reported results that topped analyst estimates, while Remy expects to take a smaller hit to profits from tariffs than previously forecast. Inflation in France and Spain was a touch less than expected this month, though the data suggest price growth for the euro zone as a whole is unlikely to deviate much from the European Central Bank’s 2% target. The first bond designed to bankroll Europe’s defense spending was marketed by a French bank, with over €2.7 billion in orders showing strong investor interest in the sector. EssilorLuxottica, the Franco-Italian maker of Ray-Ban sunglasses, is exploring a potential deal to raise its stake in Japanese optical equipment manufacturer Nikon Corp. to about 20%, people with knowledge of the matter said. The Pinault family, which owns a 29% stake in Puma, has reached out to potential buyers after the German sports brand lost about half its market value in the past year — possibly with a view to triggering a sale of the company, people familiar with the matter said.  Puma Speedcat sneakers. Photographer: Puma Valneva SE shares plummeted after the French drug company’s vaccine for a mosquito-borne disease was suspended in the US following an investigation into its adverse effects among older patients. In a letter published in Le Monde, French President Emmanuel Macron pushed back against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s claims he was abetting antisemitism by planning to recognize a Palestinian state. Charles Kushner, the US ambassador to France, separately sparked the French government’s ire with an editorial saying Macron wasn’t doing enough to fight antisemitism. All week: Bayrou meets with opposition parties to discuss budget proposals ahead of the confidence vote he called for Sept. 8 Monday: French car registrations data Thursday: Voltalia results Here’s why the Mercedes-Maybach convertible is the Louis Vuitton of cars. | 
