The conservative UMP party of former French president Nicolas Sarkozy must cut running costs and seek new credit accords with its banks to wind down some 80 million euros ($109 million)(63.63 million pounds) of debt, an independent audit concluded on Tuesday, reports Reuters.
The UMP, France's main opposition party, is already at the centre of a legal inquiry into whether party officials used its books to cover up millions of euros of overspending on Sarkozy's failed 2012 election campaign.
While Sarkozy denies wrongdoing, it is one of a string of legal troubles hanging over the party and casting doubt over his hopes to come out of retirement and stand for president in 2017.
Opponents, including from among Francois Hollande's ruling Socialists, have used the UMP's funding woes to argue that it could not again be trusted with running the euro zone's second largest economy.
"This audit is intended to give total transparency into the UMP's accounts and provide an analysis that should guarantee the survival of the movement," the UMP said in a statement.
Read more of this report from Reuters.