Sword of Damocles: France danced ‘fatal tango’ with debt, PM Bayrou says as he takes aim at predecessors

French Prime Minister François Bayrou slammed the country’s previous leaders and opposition parties for ignoring increasing indebtedness in his first major policy speech, accusing the whole political class of having danced a "fatal tango that brought us to the edge of the precipice.”

"Every party of government, without exception, is responsible for the situation created over the last few decades," Bayrou told lawmakers on Tuesday. The 73-year-old centrist listed the debt increases under each French president since Socialist François Mitterrand in 1981 — drawing jeers from the various political groups that have been in charge since then.

Bayrou, like his short-lived predecessor Michel Barnier, compared the debt to a "sword of Damocles" hanging over France.