(ANSA) – PARIS, 21 SEP – It is the end of a long wait. And a (fragile) attempt to relaunch France: two weeks after the appointment of the new Prime Minister, Michel Barnier, Paris has a new government.
An executive, announced this evening by the Secretary General of the Elysée, Alexis Kohler, made up of 39 ministers, including 17 ministers with “portfolio”. Of these, 7 come from the Macron camp, 3 from the Republicans, 2 independents from the right, 2 centrists from the MoDem, 1 independent from the left, 1 from Horizontes (the small centrist party of former Prime Minister Edouard Philippe) and 1 from the Liot parliamentary group. “A team, now in action,” wrote Michel Barnier on X, adding the flags of France and the European Union.
Among the most important appointments of this new government, which is more to the right than Attal’s previous government, is the “hawk” of the Republicans and champion of the fight against immigration, Bruno Retailleau, at the Ministry of the Interior. While the left, which took to the streets again today to protest against an executive considered “illegitimate” after the election results, is once again threatening a vote of no confidence and Marine Le Pen’s National Assembly (RN) is immediately on the side of the opposition. “This government has no future,” bellows the Le Penist secretary, Jordan Bardella, while Le Pen speaks of a “transitional” executive, “very far from the desire for change” expressed by the French in the early political elections of June 30 and July 7.
“We will continue to prepare for the great alternation that we are calling for to allow France to get back on its feet,” said the leader of the French Tricolour Flame in the message published on X after the announcement by Barnier’s government.
Emmanuel Macron will hold his first cabinet meeting on Monday at 3pm local time, in the face of opposition hostility, from the left to Marine Le Pen’s National Assembly, and the road to a new government is full of unknowns and uphill. Just like the mountain paths so dear to the former EU chief Brexit negotiator, the Savoyard Michel Barnier.
The arrival of Retailleau, until now leader of the Republican senators group, at Place Beauvau also caused irritation among Macron’s own supporters and among the centrist allies of the MoDem. All the more so since he is the only “heavyweight” in an executive made up of personalities often unknown to the general public and in which Barnier has not succeeded, as initially hoped, in including members of the rebelling left. Another controversial personality for his positions against gay marriage, Laurence Garien, initially appointed to the Ministry of the Family, will have to settle for the role of Secretary of State for Consumer Affairs in the face of the outcry raised in recent days in the presidential camp itself (and among the centrists).
At the Ministry of the Economy, the young Macronian Antoine Armand will replace Bruno Le Maire. The moderate centrist Jean-Noël Barrot, 33, has been promoted to the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs. A figure linked to the left, however, for Justice, which will be headed by Didier Migaud, until now president of the High Authority for Public Life. Sebastien Lecornu confirmed in Defence and Rachida Dati in Culture.
In the Budget, in a context where financial manoeuvres seem to be the number one priority of the new government in a country marked by the drift of public accounts, there is the former MP Laurent Saint-Martin, in direct contact with Barnier. Among the other new additions, MP Renaissance, in Education.
The government spokesperson is another Macronian, Maud Bregon, while the centrist of the MoDeM, Geneviève Darrieussecq, becomes Minister of Health. (ANSA)
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