No phone call, no reframing. Since the publication on Wednesday evening of Antoine Armand's interview in Le Parisien, Michel Barnier has not picked up his phone to speak with his Minister of the Economy. A silence which does not constitute approval from the Prime Minister. Far from it…
“Be careful of overtaxing,” warns the tenant of Bercy, while the head of government still refuses to give up the 4 billion euros increase in employer contributions. Asked by Le Parisien-Aujourd'hui en France, Matignon reacted: “Everyone will be the judge. But caught in headwinds, the Prime Minister maintains his course and does not fall into sterile controversies. »
“The bravest of the bunch”
Michel Barnier refuses to cross swords with his minister and wants to trivialize, even minimize, the already complex political sequence. “If I were Prime Minister, I would release him. He crossed a red line,” assures a former member of the government who nevertheless recognizes that Antoine Armand is “the bravest of the bunch. Especially since he fights on the merits, on a real personal conviction. »
Do not increase business taxes: a conviction that the youngest Minister of the Economy of the Fifth Republic had already expressed last week. In the Macronist loops and during a meeting of deputies from his camp, he expressed his “determination to achieve the legitimate and vital request for the economy to revise the measure on reductions in charges”.
At that time, Antoine Armand was fuming against Michel Barnier who had not kept him informed of the announcements on retirees made on television by… Laurent Wauquiez. This time, it was he who did not warn Matignon of his exit in the Parisien-Aujourd'hui in France. And this, contrary to custom. One everywhere, ball in the center.
“The French no longer understand anything, it gives the impression of a general mess”
“It’s playground behavior and the French don’t want it,” assures an executive advisor. This release adds a lot of confusion to a “common base” that already has a lot of difficulty working together. “We still have the Minister of the Economy who trashes in an interview a budget that he is supposed to defend. It’s lunar! enrages a Macronist heavyweight. The French no longer understand anything, it gives the impression of a general mess. »
In Antoine Armand's entourage, we try to minimize: “It's not a standoff, he remains loyal to Michel Barnier. » Especially since the two Savoyards know each other well. The Prime Minister even insisted in September on bringing him into his government team. An eternity.
The disagreements and tensions come at the worst time, while parliamentary discussions on the budget have, unsurprisingly, turned into a dialogue of the deaf. However, the two men will have to live together. A calibration meeting, planned for a long time, will take place at the end of the afternoon in the closed door of Matignon. To tune the violins or take care of the wrong notes?
