In the end Emmanuel Macron he made it. It took a month and a half of complicated consultations after the electoral defeat to give the France a new prime minister. As long as he can stand up to the challenge of the Chamber and that of the state accounts, which are not exactly rosy. The president has instructed Michael Barnier to “form a coalition government at the service of the country and the French”. Yes, but what kind of coalition?
In fact, in the end Macron’s choice fell on Barnier who is an exponent of the republicans. That is, the right-wing Gaullists. A choice that will make it easier to find the support – or non-belligerence – of the right rather than the left. And this is clear from the first statements released in the heat of the moment. With Jordan Bardella The National Rally he limits himself to “taking note” of the nomination and to requesting “deserved respect” for the 11 million Le Pen voters. “We will judge his general policy speech, his budget decisions and his actions based on the evidence,” he adds. “We will ask that the main emergencies of the French, purchasing power, security, immigration, be finally addressed and we reserve all means of political action if this is not the case in the coming weeks.” Along the same lines, more or less, also Marine Le Pen who demands from the new head of government “our ideas”. “We will be attentive to the project that he will carry forward and careful to ensure that the aspirations of our voters, who are a third of the French, are listened to and respected,” added Le Pen. It is not an endorsement, but neither is it a declaration of war.
Much more indignant tones are coming from the left. “The election was stolen,” he rants. Jean-Luc Melenchonleader of La France Insoumise. “It is not the New Popular Front that won the elections that will have the prime minister and the responsibility to appear before the deputies,” attacks the leader of the left. He is echoed by Olivie Faure, secretary of the French Socialist Party: “The denial of democracy has reached its peak: a prime minister of the party who came fourth and did not even participate in the Republican Front. We are entering a crisis of the regime.”
Who is Barnier? Former EU negotiator for Brexit, former European Commissioner for Regional Policy, former minister. “This appointment comes after an unprecedented round of consultations during which, in accordance with his constitutional duty, the President ensured that the Prime Minister and the government met the conditions to be as stable as possible and give themselves the opportunity to create the broadest possible coalition,” writes the Elysée. The hope is that his figure can rally a sufficient number of deputies to carry the legislature forward and not force Macron to take further drastic decisions. The fact that Rn will not make “any censorship on principle” suggests that, perhaps, France is okay for a while. For a while.