Michel Barnier is a man of the right. There is no doubt about it after half a century of political commitment for the man who, as a teenager, put up campaign posters for General de Gaulle. The new prime minister assumes his political colour. But the leader of the Republicans (LR) who said he was in favour, in 2021, of a “immigration moratorium”to the “retirement at 65”and to the “minimum sentences”, wants to make room for the left in his government.
During an interview on the TF1 “8pm” news on Friday 6 September, the former European Commissioner, who came, he recalls, from “social gaulism”ensures that “everything is open”. It will not be “only from a right-wing government”he promises.
His team will include members of the presidential camp with “maybe, maybe”ministers who have currently resigned. Former LR, such as Gérald Darmanin (interior), Sébastien Lecornu (armies) or Aurore Bergé (gender equality) say they are ready to join him. But Michel Barnier also hopes to attract “left-wing people”. Which ones? Mystery.
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Apart from the former 2007 presidential candidate, Ségolène Royal, whose entourage assures the Monde « that a common construction between the right, the centre and a part of the left, open and attentive, would be a good idea”candidates are rare. According to the first secretary of the Socialist Party (PS), Olivier Faure, no socialist will be in the picture of a future government promised to a motion of censure filed by the New Popular Front (NFP). “I have never been sectarian”the Savoyard boasts.
“Our country needs strong unions”
At 73, the man who claims to have no ” Career Objective “ breaks taboos to seduce the opposition, saying he is ready to “open a debate” on the pension reform which, in 2023, put millions of French people on the streets. “Our country needs strong unions,” he continues, to better display his difference in style with Emmanuel Macron, a Jupiterian president with little concern for intermediary bodies. “Every citizen is necessary”he insists, contrasting with the unfortunate remarks of the head of state in 2017 on “people who are nothing”.
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Six years after the abolition of the ISF, the septuagenarian also swears that he will not rule out taking action “more tax justice”while avoiding going into detail and defends “order and morality” facing the “bankers who think they can do whatever they want”. A glance to the left, another to the right, Michel Barnier promises to tackle the issue of migration and borders which have become, in his eyes, “strainers”, while studying the subject of proportional representation, a requirement of the National Rally (RN). “I have no red lines”he sums up.
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