Prime Minister Michel Barnier called on Sunday for the “Olympic spirit” to be maintained and for political divisions to be overcome as he seeks to form a government with figures from diverse backgrounds.
“When political leaders and the country unite, at all levels of public action, and beyond political divisions, nothing is impossible,” he wrote on X, the day after a final Olympic celebration on the Champs-Elysées.
“It is all together, putting aside political sensitivities, and thinking only of the common good, that this dream has been realized,” he stressed. “Let’s keep the Olympic spirit!” he added.
In his message, he thanked the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin and the Minister of Defense Sébastien Lecornu, with whom he spoke this weekend at Matignon, as well as the Minister of Sport and the Olympic and Paralympic Games Amélie Oudéa-Castera.
“With the entire government, under the authority of the President of the Republic and the Prime Ministers, they have managed to make people forget all the criticism from those who did not believe in success,” assured Mr. Barnier.
Keen to form a government that would obtain the broadest possible support in an Assembly where a majority is difficult to achieve, the Prime Minister also praised the role played by elected officials who were not part of the presidential camp, notably Valérie Pécresse, the president of the Ile-de-France region, and Anne Hidalgo, the mayor of Paris.
He also thanked the “organizing teams”, in particular the president of the Olympic organizing committee, Tony Estanguet, “who invented and made possible these Games which made us so proud”.
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