Paris —

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.

With yet another government on the brink, France has, it seems, become ungovernable. On Monday, Francois Bayrou, less than a year into his job, looks set to become the fourth prime minister to depart in just 20 months. His fate now rests on a confidence vote in parliament that, if lost, would cement a record under the Fifth Republic and leave the country’s president Emmanuel Macron weaker than ever.

Bayrou called the vote in a bid to push through an unpopular 44 billion euros savings plan that includes scrapping two public holidays and freezing spendin g.

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