2024-09-07 05:29:34
France has been in a serious political crisis for weeks. It needs to be resolved by someone with a lot of experience in Paris and Brussels.
Almost two months after the parliamentary elections, French President Emmanuel Macron has appointed former EU Commissioner Michel Barnier as head of government. The Élysée Palace announced that Macron had given Barnier the task of forming a coalition government. Macron had previously held days of talks with all political forces in parliament to explore the possibility of a government that was as broad and stable as possible.
The 73-year-old Barnier is an influential figure in France’s conservative Republicans. He can look back on a decades-long political career. He was Environment Minister under François Mitterrand, Foreign Minister under Jacques Chirac and Agriculture Minister under Nicolas Sarkozy. The native of eastern France has also worked as an EU Commissioner on several occasions. He also served as the European Union’s chief Brexit negotiator.
It remains to be seen whether Barnier can form a government with a majority. The conservatives have stressed that they do not want to be part of a government. However, they would at least tolerate a Barnier government. The new head of government can be sure of the support of the Macron camp.
However, it is difficult to predict how he could get the necessary votes from the left-wing camp. It is possible that the right-wing nationalists will ultimately tolerate him – out of support for Barnier’s restrictive positions on migration policy.
With the change of government, the liberal Macron will have to give up power. The prime minister will become more important as the head of government policy. Macron will retain the upper hand in foreign policy.
In the early parliamentary elections, the left-wing alliance Nouveau Front Populaire came out on top, ahead of Macron’s centrist forces and the right-wing nationalist Rassemblement National around Marine Le Pen. Neither camp received an absolute majority. The process of forming a government was therefore stalled for a long time.
The main challenge for Macron was to find a prime minister who would not have a majority against him and could therefore be overthrown by a vote of no confidence.