French Economy Minister Eric Lombard said on Tuesday that he was "certainly not resigned" to the notion of Prime Minister Francois Bayrou's minority administration dissolving next month. "Certainly we do not resign ourselves to the government falling on September 8," he said. "We want to avoid risk of IMF intervention in case the government falls, but I cannot pretend that this risk does not exist." Yesterday, Bayrou called a September 8 confidence vote on his €44 billion budget-cutting proposal to address the country's increasing public debt, risking the loss of his minority government. If Bayrou loses, his cabinet ... (full story)