Speaking in the National Assembly on Tuesday, Bayrou doubled down on his remarks, saying that in the French overseas territory of Mayotte and in certain regions of France, “the word flooding is the one that is the most precise.”
“It’s not the words that are shocking but the reality,” Bayrou said.
The left accused the prime minister of spreading far-right tropes concerning immigration. Even his allies, such as the centrist President of the National Assembly Yaël Braun-Pivet, have said they were uncomfortable with his choice of words.
The timing of the fracas couldn’t be worse, with budget talks reaching their endgame this week. A parliamentary committee is set to discuss the long-awaited 2025 French budget on Thursday, in the hope that lawmakers may be able to break the deadlock.
The Socialist Party said they had canceled a meeting with the government “following the prime minister’s statement.” Socialist parliamentary leader Boris Vallaud, meanwhile, said he had been “outraged” by Bayrou’s comments and accused him of peddling the “prejudices of the far right.” Vallaud also floated the possibility that the Socialist Party could vote to topple the government in a no-confidence vote.
Losing the Socialists would constitute a serious setback for Bayrou’s government, which was appointed after former Prime Minister Michel Barnier was toppled last month.
Bayrou had targeted the Socialists as a potential opposition partner with whom his minority government could work to pass a budget cutting France’s eye-watering deficit.
Barnier had previously attempted to negotiate with the National Rally rather than with leftist MPs, but the far-right party eventually voted to bring the government down over his spending plans.
