In an interview with The Tribune SundayMarine Le Pen considered that Emmanuel Macron “took into account the RN’s criteria in choosing his Prime Minister”. She finds that “Michel Barnier seems to have, on immigration, the same observation as us”, and assured that she refused to create a blockage by automatically censoring the new head of government.
The day before, Jordan Bardella, president of the party, had also declared that he would give Michel Barnier “the benefit of the doubt”.
Does Michel Barnier, the new Prime Minister, have what it takes to create a consensus? According to an Ifop poll for The Sunday Journal52% of French people are satisfied with this nomination. A short majority, naturally longer among supporters of his own camp: 93% of Republicans and 88% of Renaissance supporters find him competent. However, 74% of those questioned think that he will be subject to a motion of censure.
The pressure did not only come from the left on Saturday. RN president Jordan Bardella, on a trip to the Châlons-en-Champagne fair, demanded of Michel Barnier that “the subjects of the National Rally” be taken into account by a future government labeled as “fragile.”
While the RN has until now made it known that it would judge the Prime Minister “on the evidence” and did not intend to try to overthrow him in the National Assembly before knowing the content of his program, the tone has since hardened. “I believe that from this day on, Mr. Barnier is a Prime Minister under surveillance […] of a political party which is now essential in the parliamentary game”, declared Jordan Bardella, while assuring later on TF1 that he did not want to participate “in institutional disorder and democratic chaos”.
On the left, Michel Barnier’s nomination is not going down well. The new Prime Minister has already had to face demonstrations on Saturday called by La France Insoumise, notably in Paris where a procession followed the classic Bastille-Nation route, bringing together 26,000 people according to the police, 160,000 according to the organizers. On Saturday evening, the authorities counted 110,000 demonstrators in the country, compared to 300,000 according to the initiators of the movement.
Anger is first directed against Emmanuel Macron and his “democratic coup”, according to the initiators of the march, furious at not seeing Lucie Castets, candidate of a united left with 193 deputies, appointed to Matignon. “Democracy is not only the art of accepting having won, it is also the humility of accepting losing”, Jean-Luc Mélenchon thus launched, addressing the president, perched on a truck in the procession of the capital.
Hello everyone. France has a new Prime Minister, but not yet a government. And for Michel Barnier, the composition of his team looks complex. While the National Assembly is fragmented, the government casting and especially the establishment of a roadmap is indeed a perilous exercise to avoid censure.