The root of the latest expected government collapse was Macron's stunning decision to dissolve the National Assembly in June 2024.

France’s finances and politics are in turmoil. President Emmanuel Macron has just appointed his fourth prime minister in 12 months, the deficit is out of control, borrowing costs are rising and parliament can’t muster a majority to tackle spending.

Just 194 lawmakers of the 577-seat National Assembly voted in favor of Francois Bayrou, who has since resigned as prime minister.

The president is pinning his hopes on what looks like a very unlikely centrist alliance to slash public spending, when all others have failed.

When once it was Italy on the naughty step for breaching EU fiscal rules, it is now France facing punishment from Brussels. Italy aims to leave the European Commission-overseen procedure by 2027. France only entered it in July last year.

It was a question famously asked by France’s wartime leader and former President Charles de Gaulle. “How can anyone govern a country with 246 varieties of cheese?” More than 60 years on, the answer appears to be no one.

Macron courts a global role, sparring over Gaza and Greenland, even as France’s debt crisis deepens and his prime minister risks a no-confidence vote.

France is seeing a day of protests led by a grassroots movement named Bloquons Tout ("Let's Block Everything") in a show of anger against the political class and proposed budget cuts. The demonstrations are taking place on the same day new Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu was sworn in following the toppling of his predecessor,