The new tenant of Matignon will have a hard time convincing personalities to enter a short-term government. The left should miss the call.
“The President of the Republic has appointed Mr. Michel Barnier as Prime Minister. He has tasked him with forming a unifying government to serve the country and the French people.” The Élysée press release sent Thursday at around 1:30 p.m. is not insignificant. Emmanuel Macron was keen to highlight the terms of the contract he imposed on his new Prime Minister. The latter will have to rally beyond his own camp, which seems like an impossible mission.
Marine Le Pen’s demands will weigh heavily
The LR should not need to be asked twice to come. A first interview of more than an hour took place on Friday between Michel Barnier, Gérard Larcher, Laurent Wauquiez and Bruno Retailleau. They came away delighted. Within the Macronist camp, the tenant of Matignon should also find a number of enthusiastic candidates but rather among the liberals of the party. The deputies of left-wing sensitivity promise to be more wary. The former PS Gabriel Attal who was received in the morning assured that he refused to sign “a blank check” to the new Prime Minister. The deputy Stella Dupont also explained to our colleagues at Politico: “if Barnier starts by saying ‘we are eliminating State Medical Aid [comme il le proposait lors de la primaire de la droite en 2021]it is not possible, it must be clear”. If the representatives of the social wing of Macronie are so suspicious, it is because they know that the survival of the future government depends on the goodwill of Marine Le Pen and that her demands will weigh heavily.
But to form the unity government demanded by the head of state, it is the left that Michel Barnier will be lacking. No personality from the New Popular Front should give in to the temptation to accept a portfolio. Olivier Faure’s opponents should not be any more enthusiastic. Bernard Cazeneuve has notably made it known through his entourage that he would have refused a position as Minister of State in the new executive. The same goes for Carole Delga: “It is a right-wing government supported by the extreme right that does not correspond to its convictions or to the vote of the French people”, one of her close friends told France Info. Finally, the mayor of Rouen Nicolas Mayeur Rossignol believes that the appointment of Michel Barnier to the post of Prime Minister is “a real scandal”.
A short-term fixed-term contract
The adventure is all the less tempting because it could well be short-lived. If Michel Barnier’s government does not fall at the first motion of censure thanks to the neutrality of the National Rally, the debates on the budget will put it in great danger. Marine le Pen has demanded more purchasing power for the French but the suspension of VAT on a “hundred basic necessities” defended by the RN seems in total contradiction with the imperative of returning to a balanced budget defended by the right and the majority. But above all, the far right will submit a text on October 31 aimed at repealing the pension reform that Emmanuel Macron holds dearer than anything. The support of the RN could therefore be brief. Personalities from the right and the left will therefore be few in number to want to commit to such a short-term fixed-term contract. Will a David Lisnard or a Bruno Retailleau agree to leave their functions to join a government that risks falling at the first text? Not so sure. The risk for Michel Barnier is that he will only succeed in surrounding himself with second-rate people.
