France’s new Prime Minister, Michel Barnier, has continued negotiations with potential Ministers as he struggles to form a government to end the country’s political deadlock.
The veteran politician and former EU Brexit negotiator, appointed by the President, Emmanuel Macron earlier this month, had promised to form a new administration this week after “listening to everybody.”
However, with threats from the far right and hard left to call a vote of no confidence in any ministerial team that fails to meet their approval, sources close to Barnier say he is unlikely to put names to posts until the end of next weekend.
Vincent Jeanbrun, a spokesperson for the centre-right Republicans party (LR), which Barnier represents, said that the Prime Minister had “a complex equation to solve” and he did not expect an announcement before then.
Barnier has promised to seek ministers from across the political spectrum, but leftwing candidates have been reluctant, while the far-right National Rally (RN) is seen as a behind-the-scenes arbiter.
Christian Le Bart, a political scientist at the Institute of Political Studies at Rennes, said that Barnier was “stuck”, particularly as the LR’s group had won only 47 of the 577 seats in the national assembly.
“If he reappoints a significant number of [centrist] ministers, people will rightly complain that the executive has not heard the message. And if he swings too far towards the Republicans, everyone will take offence at the fact that a political family with 47 MPs is over-represented in the government.”
Christian Le Bart
Marine Le Pen’s far right is banking on a new general election being called next year. Macron cannot dissolve parliament and call another general election until 12 months after the last dissolution.
At the weekend, Le Pen told RN leaders she hoped Barnier’s tenure as head of the government would be “as short as possible”.
“We find ourselves in a situation where the party that got the least votes is in charge of forming a government. It cannot hold,” she said.
Barnier Warned Not To Continue With Macronist Programme
On Monday, the RN President, Jordan Bardella warned the new premier not to continue with a Macronist programme.
He threatened a censure motion against any new government that “recycled” Macron’s Interior Minister, Gérald Darmanin, or Justice Minister, Éric Dupond-Moretti – both on the centre-right of the previous government.
“If Michel Barnier continues with the programme driven by Emmanuel Macron since seven years, which was severely defeated in the European and legislative election ballot boxes … then the government will fall.
“If Mr Barnier echoes the hopes expressed by millions of French people, then we’ll vote for the bills on a case-by-case basis.”
Jordan Bardella
Fabien Roussel, the national secretary of the French Communist party, one of four leftwing parties that make up the NFP, also warned Barnier that it was ready to use a censure motion.
He also called on the new Prime Minister to repeal the contested pension law that raised the official retirement age from 62 to 64.
“He [Barnier] is a veteran of 50 years of rightwing politics … The censure motion is on the table. It’s ready, we’re working on it,” Roussel said.
Le Bart believes the only possibility of Barnier escaping censure is a reluctance among opposition parties to leave the country without a government.
“They would not want to add disorder to disorder,” he said.
A poll by Ipsos published at the weekend suggested 64% of French people believed Macron had ignored the result of the election. Among those who voted for the NFP, that figure rose to 91%. Only one-third of those polled approved of his choice of Barnier as PM.
The next parliamentary session will begin on 1 October. One of the government’s first acts will be to draw up and present the 2025 budget.
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