Michel Barnier descends into the arena. The new Prime Minister is expected at the National Assembly on Tuesday, October 1, to present his roadmap during the traditional general policy declaration. At the end of the Council of Ministers, the government spokesperson, Maud Bregeon, announced “a speech of action” but also “a method” imprint of the“intangible attachment” of the Prime Minister “to the Erule of law“. She thus fixed thees “red lines” by Michel Barnier: “no tolerance for racism, anti-Semitism, communitarianism; no tolerance for violence against women, for attacks on secularism; no questioning, obviously, of societal progress and no questioning, obviously again, of the rule of law”, insisted the spokesperson. Follow our speech.
No vote of confidence. Almost a month after his appointment, the Prime Minister must speak from 3 p.m. Didier Migaud, Minister of Justice and number 2 in the government, will read the speech of the head of government at the same time in the Senate. Michel Barnier will not seek a vote of confidence from deputies, like his predecessors Elisabeth Borne and Gabriel Attal, deprived like him of an absolute majority.
Narrow room for maneuver.Michel Barnier should speak for around an hour, according to those around him, and insist on “financial debt and ecological debt”. In addition to the lack of a majority for the government, there is an explosive financial situation with a slippage in the public deficit. He will therefore have to clarify his intentions regarding possible tax increases, the control of migratory flows or even the transition to proportional representation.
First hiccups. To prepare his roadmap, the Prime Minister organized a government seminar, which aimed above all to develop team spirit after several hiccups. Barely appointed, the Minister of the Interior Bruno Retailleau engaged in a standoff with the Minister of Justice Didier Migaud. Over the weekend, France’s top cop lit a new fire by declaring that the rule of law was not “not sacred”.
