Politics. Questions or suggestions about the 2026 budget? François Bayrou is asking for your help.
All ideas are welcome, at least that's the message the Prime Minister intends to convey, by inviting the French people this Thursday, via his new YouTube channel, to give him ideas in his difficult quest for savings.
His PR campaign is in full swing. François Bayrou has become a participatory YouTuber. And he seems to be enjoying it. His "FB Direct" channel has over 8,000 subscribers. His first video, published on August 6, has been viewed over 126,000 times . Subsequent videos have generated between 7,400 and 37,000 views. And the Prime Minister intends to keep up the momentum.
This Thursday, François Bayrou launched the "second stage" of his "direct communication" initiative, with the same objective: to convince the French people of the merits of his budget plan (44 billion euros in savings) . In this new phase, the head of government now intends to give the French people a voice. "I committed, when we began this communication, to ensuring that you could, through your questions, your proposals, your suggestions, participate in this very difficult effort to get the country back on its feet," the Prime Minister explained in the video released this Thursday.
This content is blocked because you have not accepted cookies and other trackers.
By clicking on "I accept" , cookies and other trackers will be placed and you will be able to view the contents ( more information ).
By clicking on "I accept all cookies" , you authorize the deposit of cookies and other tracers for the storage of your data on our sites and applications for the purposes of personalization and advertising targeting.
You can withdraw your consent at any time by consulting our data protection policy . Manage my choices
To achieve this, a new version of the Agora application, created and launched in 2023 by former government spokesperson Olivier Véran , has been implemented. French citizens can also write directly to the head of government via the email address [email protected].
François Bayrou intends to continue this communications campaign until the beginning of September, addressing the various issues surrounding the financial texts that will be examined in Parliament starting in October. Lacking a majority in the Assembly and threatened with censure by the left and the National Rally, the Prime Minister knows he has his hands full.
The nearly €44 billion savings plan for 2026 "must be reduced" by about "half" if it "wants to open dialogue and for France to have a budget," Socialist MP Philippe Brun warned this Thursday. The day before, Macronist MP Violette Spillebout had considered the elimination of two public holidays "a very bad sign from the government."
Le Progres
