France faces a fresh budget battle that threatens to topple another government as debt costs spiral

France is paying an ever-higher risk premium on its debt as investors brace for a third straight year of drama over its annual budget, which threatens to topple yet another leader. The yield on the country's 10-year government bonds — known as OATs — popped above 4.5% on Friday for the first time since 2008, and has since held above that threshold. It was last seen trading with a yield of 4.53% on Wednesday. France's 10-year yield is now more than one percentage point higher than the payout on German 10-year bonds for the first time since the height of the euro zone sovereign debt crisis in 2012. The market continues to demand greater compensation for lending to France than it does to Italy or Greece — the problem children of the crisis.