Michel Barnier, Prime Minister without a majority in the National Assembly and facing a very constrained budget, said on Saturday that he felt “the soul, the will and the energy of a firefighter” in view of the “fires” and “pitfalls” on his path.
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Michel Barnier (finally) has a government
Michel Barnier, Prime Minister without a majority in the National Assembly and facing a very constrained budget, said on Saturday that he felt “the soul, will and energy of a firefighter” in view of the “fires” and “pitfalls” on his way. “When I also see, to tell you the truth, the risks, the fires, the pitfalls, the earthquakes, the holes, not to mention the pandemics (…), I feel the soul, the will and the energy of a firefighter”, declared the head of government before the 130th fire brigade congress in Mâcon.
“I have been here for 20 days, I don’t know for how long”, given “the very unique situation for 60 years and unprecedented in the National Assembly”, fractured into three blocs, none of which has a majority, he added. “But I am here like someone who is embarking on a long journey. I am used to hiking in the mountains. I know the dangers that lie along this road or this path, the uncertainties. And I approach all this, as you have understood, with a lot of determination”said Michel Barnier.
An “extremely serious” budgetary situation
He once again deplored having discovered a budgetary situation on arrival “extremely serious”targeting without naming the former Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire. And that as a result, he was not going to “not be able to answer all the questions” firefighters, but that his government was going there “work for the best”.
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Michel Barnier evokes an “exceptional and temporary” contribution in the face of the “very serious” financial situation
“Never has a Prime Minister, never in 60 years, been forced to present a budget in two weeks,” he underlined, deploring that France, due to its deficit of 6% of GDP this year “is now borrowing (on the markets, editor’s note) at rates which are close to those of Portugal, Spain and soon Greece”.
