Emmanuel Macron spoke yesterday/Thursday evening on television to learn lessons from the censorship of the Barnier government. He announced that he would appoint a new prime minister in the coming days, and confirmed that he would complete his mandate despite calls for resignation from the left-wing opposition.
Does Emmanuel Macron remain, as he always said, the master of clocks? Under the Fifth Republic, things are very clear. The president, elected by universal suffrage since 1965, is the keystone of the institutions.
Even if on a daily basis it is the Prime Minister who, as the Constitution says, determines and conducts the nation’s policy, it is the President who is the real boss.
In his speech yesterday/Thursday evening, he made it felt, castigating what he called an anti-republican front, which united the New Popular Front and the National Rally to overthrow Michel Barnier.
In his ten-minute speech, he blamed the political crisis on parliamentarians, conceding only one regret, that his decision to dissolve the National Assembly in June was not understood.
The clock master did not give in to pressure to immediately appoint a new Prime Minister. He promised to do it in the coming days, nothing more. Today he will consult the leaders of several parties, in this case the formations of the Macronist camp, the Republicans from which Michel Barnier came, and, this is the novelty, the Socialists.
The president intends to appoint a Prime Minister, who would have a majority which would go from the moderate right to the PS, excluding the extreme right and the extreme left. This is the famous theory of the omelette with both ends cut off. This arithmetic majority would be uncensorable.
-For the moment, the socialists have actually reached out to a sort of compromise with the presidential camp, but on condition that the Prime Minister is chosen from the left, which is more than unlikely.
In fact, Emmanuel Macron wants to break up the coalition of the new Popular Front and separate the socialists from the ecologists, the communists and especially the rebels who are demanding his resignation. This is why the name of François Bayrou, the leader of the centrist party, regularly comes up to succeed Michel Barnier. He has a Belgian profile which could unite socialists with the heirs of the democratic, Christian and liberal parties.
In the meantime, to reassure the French, the president announced the vote in mid-December for a special law which would make it possible to raise taxes and make the country function, while waiting for the new government to propose a new budget. And now, time for the reopening of Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral. A weekend of ceremonies which will mark the resurrection of the building. A true miracle. But you know, Emmanuel Macron believes in miracles.
Signed Giltay Emmanuel Macron Michel Barnier government France politics
