Is France on the brink of financial collapse, as François Bayrou claims? Five economists untangle fact from fiction.

Eric Monnet, professor at the School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences and the Paris School of Economics, specialist in financial crises.

"We are at historically fairly high levels of debt , but far from the peaks experienced during world wars and in peacetime, such as at the end of the 19th century. This level of 113.9% of gross domestic product is not negligible, but it is also not aberrant after the succession of shocks over the past fifteen years, from the 2008 crisis to the Covid crisis. What is historic, on the other hand, is the moderate level of debt burden, aut