"We're fed up with all these changes": Bayrou's potential fall worries bosses

The potential fall of the Bayrou government on September 8th suggests a new period of political instability and no budget voted for the year 2026. Enough to shake up the markets and the French economy, which is already suffering from weak growth and low household consumption. Especially since, as RMC revealed to you this Wednesday, more than 30,000 business leaders lost their jobs in the first half of 2025, according to the barometer produced by the GSC association and the Altares company.

For job seekers, this back-to-school season doesn't seem like a good time to be here. Emilie has completed her work-study program but can't find a job for the fall. "It's a mess, so to speak," she confides.

Unemployed for a year, Anthony is looking for work in the pharmaceutical field. The political turmoil worries him: "The instability isn't helping me at all; it's not going to help me find my job again. There's not much hope for me; it might mean a career change," he says fatalistically.

The bosses are also returning anxious from their vacations. Rodolphe Borgniet owns two perfume boutiques in Paris, and his turnover has been steadily declining for the past two years, recording a 15% drop this year.

"There's nothing that continues to give us hope about what's going to happen for the start of the school year. We see that purchasing power is very complicated, people are being careful, they're all very worried. It's a general atmosphere, we can't take any more of all these changes. If it continues like this, I'm going to have to close a shop and lay off two people," fears Rodolphe Borgniet.

"A climate of uncertainty that is not good for the economy," regrets Medef president Patrick Martin.

This "adds to the climate of uncertainty in the minds of entrepreneurs, which is not good for the economy," also due to the "toughening of international competition," Patrick Martin, president of the Medef (French employers' association), lamented on Francenfo. The French Entrepreneurs' Meeting, which is taking place this Wednesday and Thursday, will see Prime Minister François Bayrou deliver a speech on Thursday.

Not everyone is in the same boat, however: "Those who depend on international trade and export are less impacted than those whose business is linked to the confidence of French consumers," Geoffroy Roux de Bézieux, former president of Medef, said in the columns of Le Parisien .

Last year in Paris, 4,500 shops had to close their doors, and according to the French Federation of Retailers' Associations, there could be 30% more this year.