France's Macron appoints new government in shift to right

Tough talks on the distribution of the 39 cabinet posts continued right up to Saturday's official announcement, insiders said, with moments of high tension between the president and his prime minister

French President Emmanuel Macron named a new government led by Prime Minister Michel Barnier on Saturday (September 21, 2024) marked by a shift to the right, 11 weeks after an inconclusive parliamentary election.

Also Read: An overview of the French elections | Explained

The first major task for Mr. Barnier, appointed just over two weeks ago, will be to submit a 2025 budget plan addressing France's financial situation, which the prime minister this week called "very serious".

Conservative Mr. Barnier is best known internationally for leading the European Union's Brexit negotiations with the U.K..

More recently, he has had the difficult job of submitting a cabinet for Mr. Macron's approval that has the best chance of surviving a no-confidence motion in parliament.

Tough talks on the distribution of the 39 cabinet posts continued right up to Saturday's official announcement, insiders said, with moments of high tension between the president and his prime minister.

Opposition politicians from the left have already announced they will challenge his government with a confidence motion.

In the July election, a left-wing bloc called the New Popular Front (NFP) won the most parliamentary seats of any political bloc, but not enough for an overall majority.

Mr. Macron argued that the left would be unable to muster enough support to form a government that would not immediately be brought down in parliament.

He turned instead to Mr. Barnier to lead a government drawing mostly on parliamentary support from Mr. Macron's allies, as well as from the conservative Republicans (LR) and the centrists groups.

No future

Mr. Macron was counting too, on a neutral stance from the far right - but the leader of the National Rally (RN) Jordan Bardella was quick to condemn the composition of the new government.

It marked "a return to Macronism" and so had "no future whatsoever", he said Saturday.

At the other end of the political spectrum, far-left firebrand Jean-Luc Melenchon called the new lineup "a government of the general election losers".

France, he said, should "get rid" of the government "as soon as possible", while his party threatened to "increase popular pressure" on the government.

Socialist party chairman Oliver Faure dismissed Mr. Barnier's cabinet as "a reactionary government that gives democracy the finger".

Among the new faces in key cabinet posts are Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot, a centrist, while conservative Bruno Retailleau takes over at the interior ministry.

His portfolio covers immigration and his right-wing credentials have created unease even in Mr. Macron's own camp.

Defence Minister Sebastien Lecornu, a close Macron ally, has kept his job.

The difficult job of submitting a budget plan to parliament next month falls to 33-year-old Antoine Armand, the new finance minister. He has previously served as head of parliament's economic affairs commission.

The only left-of-centre politician is a little-known former Socialist Didier Migaud who was named justice minister.

Street protests

Even before the announcement, thousands of people with left-leaning sympathies took to the streets in Paris, the southern port city of Marseille and elsewhere on Saturday to protest.

They were objecting to a cabinet they say does not reflect the outcome of the parliamentary election.

The new government has nobody from inside the NFP bloc.

"I am here because this outcome does not correspond to how people voted," said Violette Bourguignon, 21, demonstrating in Paris.

"I am worried and I'm angry. What is the point of having an election at all?" she said.

Mr. Barnier is to address parliament with a key policy speech on October 1.

He then has the urgent task of submitting a budget plan to the National Assembly aimed at controlling France's rising budget deficit and debt mountain - the first major test of his administration.

France was placed on a formal procedure for violating European Union budgetary rules before Barnier was picked as head of government.

France's public-sector deficit is projected to reach around 5.6 percent of GDP this year and go over six percent in 2025, which compares with EU rules calling for a three-percent ceiling on deficits.

"I am discovering that the country's budgetary situation is very serious," Mr. Barnier said in a statement to AFP on Wednesday, adding that the situation required "more than just pretty statements".

The new cabinet's first meeting is scheduled for Monday afternoon.

Published - September 22, 2024 01:55 am IST