France gets new government after weeks of uncertainty
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
A person holding a cut-out depicting French President Emmanuel Macron taking part in a protest in Paris on Sept 21 against new Premier Michel Barnier and his government.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Follow topic:
PARIS – French President Emmanuel Macron’s chief of staff announced the formation of a new government on Sept 21, hoping to put an end to 2½ months of political uncertainty following an inconclusive snap election that delivered a hung Parliament.
Mr Antoine Armand, who is 33 and a graduate of France’s top administration school, will serve as finance minister and Mr Jean-Noel Barrot will become foreign minister, Mr Alexis Kohler, the chief of staff, said from the Elysee Palace late on Sept 21.
Mr Sebastien Lecornu will stay on as defence minister, Mr Kohler added, in a government composed largely of centrist and conservative parties.
There are questions over how stable the new government will prove to be, and whether it will manage to push reform measures through Parliament, analysts say, with the adoption of the 2025 budget a first, tough challenge.
The government, led by conservative Michel Barnier, the European Union’s former Brexit negotiator, will face the tough task of having to plug a gaping hole in public finances, which could involve having to decide politically toxic tax rises.
Mr Macron named Mr Barnier, a 73-year-old veteran politician, as prime minister earlier in September, but the lengthy talks he had to lead to pull together a team were an illustration of the tough tasks ahead.
The centrist and conservative parties managed to pull forces, but will depend on others, and in particular Ms Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally (RN) party, to stay in power and get Bills adopted by a very fractured Parliament.
“The centrist government is de facto a minority administration,” EuroIntelligence analysts said in a note. Its ministers will not only have to agree among one another, but also “will need votes from opposition parties for its Bills to pass in the assembly”.
“This means offering even more concessions and manoeuvring,” the analysts added.
The RN gave tacit support to Mr Barnier’s premiership, but reserved the right to back out at any point if its concerns over immigration, security and other issues were not met.
“I’m angry to see a government that looks set to recycle all the election losers,” Ms Mathilde Panot, who leads the hard-left LFI group of lawmakers, told TF1 television. REUTERS
