François Bayrou considers the controversy over the cost of his €40,000 office construction in Pau "insulting"

In an interview published Sunday on the website of the regional daily Sud Ouest, François Bayrou responded strongly to a Mediapart article revealing the amount of this upcoming project, an expense deemed politically flammable in a context where François Bayrou is preparing to put the existence of his government at risk with a vote of confidence planned for September 8 and calls for mobilization on the 10th .

"This is all completely crazy! At City Hall, we've redone all the offices, all the meeting rooms, the wedding hall, etc. The only office that hasn't been done, because I wanted others to have priority, is the mayor's office. An office that's over 30 years old and falling into disrepair," declared the Prime Minister, deeming this controversy "insulting."

According to figures provided to AFP by Pau City Hall, these €40,000 correspond to "the final phase of very significant work begun in 2017." The town hall, a 19th ^- century neoclassical building listed as a Historic Monument since 2017, has undergone a "redevelopment of the facades" and a modernization of the reception area and several services. The work on the mayor's office, which has "not yet begun," consists of a "minor renovation," the town hall specifies, emphasizing that their amount represents only 0.88% of the project, which has a total cost of €4.61 million including tax.

"There are major electrical problems, the floor has been hidden under laminate, everything has to be redone. (...) When you've tried everything to bring someone down, you go looking for trivial and shameful things," he said.

In May, he had already attacked Mediapart, which had extensively covered the case of physical and sexual violence at the Bétharram middle school . "I don't read Mediapart, it's a matter of personal hygiene," the Prime Minister declared at the time before the parliamentary commission of inquiry created after the scandal.