France’s government is on the brink of collapse, again

W hen Europeans fret about profligate states destabilising their common currency, they usually have the continent’s southern fringe in mind. Yet when on August 25th a European leader made dire warnings about his country’s public finances, he was not speaking of Greece, Italy or Portugal. “Our country is in danger because we are on the brink of over-indebtedness,” declared François Bayrou, France’s prime minister. To start tackling a debt pile that stands at 114% of GDP he wants to make savings in next year’s budget worth €44bn ($51bn, or 2.6% of spending). But he runs a minority government faced with a bolshie opposition—egged on by populists on left and right—which will hear nothing of it. To try to break the impasse, Mr Bayrou stunned all parties this week by putting his governmen