“There is no ambiguity,” he said. Prime Minister Michel Barnier said he would “listen to everyone” and that he wanted to embody “hope” for France, in an interview with the JDD published in the edition of this Sunday, September 8, and this Saturday in its digital version.
“I come from below, there is no ambiguity,” he repeated three times in front of journalists, a few hours after having pronounced https://twitter.com/BFMTV/status/1831743610569596956?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1831743610569596956%7Ctwgr%5E96fe51d041a359f93f04b40ce4067bf3dcb2e4cb%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.huffingtonpost.fr%2Fpolitique%2Farticle%2Fmichel-barnier-parle-des-gens-d-en-bas-lors-de-la-passation-de-pouvoir-et-ulcere-la-gauche_239249.html during the transfer of power between him and Gabriel Attal on Thursday, September 5.
“Things will have to move!”
During his speech, the new head of government had called for “respect” for the ideas and solutions provided by “the people at the bottom”. A statement that had been booed and deemed “contemptuous”, particularly by the left.
In this new interview, the tone is different and the Prime Minister repeats the formula “I am from below”. “I will listen to everyone. These people have ideas and are fed up with it coming from above”, he declares.
“Things will have to move!” also promises Michel Barnier, who approaches this mission with “the calm of old troops”, even if he recognizes that the path is steep: “This is the moment when all those who want France to move forward must roll up their sleeves”.
“There is no stage where I have not learned something (…) Today, I am concerned with serving. Afterwards, we will see”…, he continues, wishing to “raise the horizon, individually for each person, collectively for France”.
Having just been appointed to Matignon, Michel Barnier came under fire on Saturday from the left, which called for demonstrations in dozens of towns to denounce “a coup de force”, and from the National Rally, which said it was placing the new Prime Minister “under surveillance”.
- BFMTV.com