“Changes and ruptures”: barely appointed on Thursday, the new Prime Minister Michel Barnier has taken his bearings in relation to the head of state, promising to “act more than talk” in the face of the “numerous and profound difficulties of the country” and to “respect all political forces”, while he will be under permanent threat from the extreme right in the National Assembly.
“It will be a question of responding, as much as we can, to the challenges, the anger, the suffering, the feeling of abandonment, of injustice,” declared the former right-wing European Commissioner, 73, stressing the “need for unity and appeasement” during the transfer of power with Gabriel Attal at Matignon.
Responding to his predecessor, he assured that school would remain “the priority”, also citing security, immigration, work and purchasing power, all issues on which he is expected by the National Rally.
While he promised to take up “lots of projects on hold” since Emmanuel Macron’s surprise dissolution of the Assembly, he also showed his desire to make his mark by bringing his “own added value”.
“We will act more than talk to find solutions that work everywhere,” he assured, in a veiled criticism of his predecessor and the head of state.
“We expect a Prime Minister to tell the truth about financial debt and ecological debt,” he pointed out, while he will have to urgently tackle the 2025 budget and reassure European partners worried about the drift in public finances.
Sixty days after the second round of the legislative elections, which did not result in any clear majority, Emmanuel Macron’s choice finally fell on his name, after much prevarication, immediately provoking the disapproval of the left, which denounced a “quitus” from the RN, since Marine Le Pen’s party had not threatened immediate censure.
– “Stability” –
Michel Barnier becomes the oldest Prime Minister of the Fifth Republic, succeeding the youngest, Gabriel Attal, 35, who was appointed only in January.
The new Prime Minister, who will be supported by the presidential camp and the Republican party from which he comes, but without a majority, will have to try to form a government capable of surviving a parliamentary censure, to put an end to the most serious political crisis since 1958.
The president “tasked him with forming a unifying government to serve the country and the French people,” the Elysée Palace said in a statement. Emmanuel Macron “ensured that the prime minister and the future government would meet the conditions to be as stable as possible,” the presidency added.
Before opting for Michel Barnier, the head of state had exhausted several other candidates, from Bernard Cazeneuve on the left to Xavier Bertrand on the right, including the president of the Economic, Social and Environmental Council Thierry Beaudet.
The new Prime Minister, who was also an unsuccessful candidate in the LR primary for the 2022 presidential election, inherits a task that looks like an impossible mission, as no viable coalition has emerged so far.
Taking note of the situation, he promised to show “respect for all the political forces represented”, a signal to the RN and its 11 million voters.
Michel Barnier should gather 235 seats with the central bloc (166 seats), the LR (47) and the centrist group Liot (Liberties, Independents, Overseas and Territories, 22), far from the absolute majority (289). Opposite, the RN and its allies align 142 seats and the left alliance New Popular Front (NFP) 193 seats.
A veteran politician, the new Prime Minister is known as a good mediator: he was the European Union’s chief negotiator for Brexit when the United Kingdom left the continental bloc. Before that, he was a minister on several occasions since 1993, notably under the presidencies of Jacques Chirac (Foreign and European Affairs) and Nicolas Sarkozy (Agriculture).
More recently, when he was eyeing the Elysée, this centrist Gaullist had toughened his discourse on immigration, advocating a “moratorium” and going so far, as a convinced European, as to call into question the European Court of Justice in the name of “legal sovereignty”.
– “Democratic denial” –
But he is expected from all sides. On the left, the rebellious leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon immediately denounced an “election stolen from the French”, assuring that Michel Barnier had been appointed “with the permission and perhaps on the suggestion of the National Rally” and calling for the “most powerful mobilization possible” on Saturday during an anti-Macron demonstration.
The RN has “given a form of approval” for Barnier’s nomination, François Hollande added.
The leader of the socialists, Olivier Faure, cried out about “a crisis of the regime” and “democratic denial brought to its peak” with “a Prime Minister from the party who came in 4th position and who did not even participate in the Republican front” against the RN.
Marine Le Pen’s party, which could at any time bring down the future government by voting on a motion of censure that would be tabled by the left, remained more circumspect. It “will judge her general policy speech on its merits,” declared the party’s president, Jordan Bardella.
LR leader Laurent Wauquiez judged for his part that Michel Barnier had “all the assets to succeed in this difficult mission entrusted to him”.
Coming from a pro-European right and considered “pragmatic”, Michel Barnier has often been considered “Macron-compatible”.
The “smell of cohabitation” that Emmanuel Macron’s entourage was looking for to embody a form of alternation, will perhaps not be the most intoxicating with his person, and on Thursday the term “demanding coexistence” was rather put forward in the presidential entourage. Indeed, the Macronists will remain a component of the new coalition.
For many of them, who had to resign themselves to his choice, Michel Barnier ultimately appears as the lowest common denominator and given his age, he should not frighten all those who dream of running for the Elysée in 2027.
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