“When we return from the summer break, there’ll be a clash between reality and ideology.” Thus insisted French prime minister François Bayrou at yet another press conference to defend his austerity budget, which promises an extra €44 billion in spending cuts. Bayrou here echoed the usual neoliberal refrain: public debt is an absolute evil, and the only solution is to dismantle the state — whatever objections “ideologues” may have.

Yet, Bayrou’s contemptuous remark could well backfire on President Emmanuel Macron’s administration. For it is austerity ideology, combined with the supply-side policy of ever more tax breaks for the rich and to business, that has generated over €1 trillion in additional debt. Such is France under Macron, the self-styled “Mozart of finance.” If there is a “reality” that needs confronting as Macron heads toward the end of his presidency, it is the growing poverty in France, the collapse of public services, and an economy in critical need of investment.