We are moving towards the end of the political crisis in France. Prime Minister Michel Barnier was received at the Élysée yesterday evening to propose a government that he declared “ready to act in the service of the French people”. A centre-right government that will only take back a few outgoing ministers. Its official announcement must come before Sunday.
The casting is not yet completely finalized, but we already know the political composition of the Barnier team. It will have 38 members, including 16 full ministers. 7 portfolios would go to the Macronists, 3 to the Republicans, 2 to François Bayrou’s MoDem, 1 to Édouard Philippe’s party (Horizons), 1 to the centrist of the UDI (Union of Democrats and Independents), not to mention two portfolios attributed to a personality from various right and to a recruit from various left, who will not be socialist since the PS refused to participate in the government.
It is not quite the government of the republican arc, from the right to the left, but it broadly respects the balances of this minority coalition. It will only be supported by 235 deputies out of 577, far from the absolute majority set at 289. Michel Barnier will therefore be, from the start, at the mercy of a motion of censure, provided that it is voted for by both the RN and the New Popular Front (FNP).
The Prime Minister will appear before the National Assembly on October 1, but since in France the government comes solely from the President, there will probably be no vote following the general policy statement. Jean-Luc Mélenchon has already announced that his party will censure Michel Barnier, but he will not succeed on his own.
On the ministerial side, nothing extraordinary, a few Macronists remain, including the Minister of the Armed Forces Sébastien Lecornu, who will keep his portfolio, and the former Minister of Europe, the MoDem Jean-Noël Barrot, who will access foreign affairs. Two areas that constitute the presidential safe haven. The Republicans will win a few important departments, such as the Interior, which would go to Bruno Retailleau, the president of the LR group in the Senate. He will replace Gérald Darmanin, who will not be taken back. The leader of the Republicans, Laurent Wauquiez, refused finance, which will ultimately go to the Macronist Antoine Armand, current president of the Economic Affairs Committee in the Assembly.
I’ll spare you the other names of serious and experienced deputies or senators, but for the most part unknown to the general public, there’s nothing bling bling in this team. Except perhaps Rachida Dati, whose fate is still not settled, she could stay in culture.
Ironically, this government that effectively seals the alliance between the Macronists and the Republican right is in every way similar to the one that tried to form Emmanuel Macron during the previous legislature, without ever succeeding. If it had succeeded at the time, there would have been no dissolution. And France would have spared itself a beautiful… mess.
French Prime Minister Michel Barnier government in France Elysee
