2024-09-06 18:41:56
Twenty-four hours after the appointment of the conservative Michel Barnier at the head of the new French government, the assessment of political analysts is unanimous: the highest right is in the position of power to judge how long the prime minister chosen by President Emmanuel Macron will last . stay at the office.
Despite being 73 years old and having a 50-year political career – Michel Barnier is a four-time minister, deputy, councilor, among other public positions – he is an old-school right-wing politician, associated with Gaullism and the generation of Jacques Chirac. The reports made on the street this Friday (6) show that the politician is unknown to many French people.
In recent years, he worked in Brussels, as the main negotiator for the exit of the United Kingdom from the European Union (Brexit). It was successful and left a good impression. Barnier has a quality that many people who work with him know: he is a man open to dialogue with all political forces. In one of his first statements, he said that he had intellectual freedom and would use this transit to form a government.
In France, for those who remember, Barnier left a good legacy when he was Minister of the Environment in the socialist government of the former president François Mitterand, but he was above all a politician with right-wing convictions: he favored for drastic measures. in the area of immigration, public finance management and is controversial in relation to minorities. In the 1980s, Barnier voted against the execution of homosexuality.
The biggest obstacle that has been faced since the beginning is connected to a group of 47 representatives in the Assembly, which is quite a combination.
But why did Macron end up choosing such a vulnerable head of government?
A few days ago, the Prime Minister’s veto was chosen by the left-wing Nova Popular Front, a coalition that elected the largest number of representatives in the Assembly, 193 in total – far from the majority of 289, but still the seat the greatest. in the plenary of 577. Parliamentarians.
What Macron does not accept, and establishes as a red line, is having an opposition government that proposes a program contrary to the liberal policy that he used. The left, and also the right extremes, want to cancel the pension reform, to reestablish the head pension at 60, nothing at 64, as approved last year after months of protests by the French.
France accumulates € 3 trillion of public debt, a deficit of 5.6% in 2024, and the strategy of poverty to clean the accounts with measures considered in the price by economists: a general increase in salaries , reference to additional, more investments in health – which, in fact, it is important -, but also education, which is already the largest expenditure item in the budgets. He preached even greater corporate tax and the return of wealth tax, which Macron buried.
The president defends the opposite: the reduction of taxes on companies, which is one of the highest in Europe, and the intervention of work. The head of state has to preserve his political legacy.
The measure of Marine Le Pen
Before turning to the right, Macron tried to divide the front left, as part of the Socialist Party has indicated that it wants to return to being the ruling party. However, despite the guarantees regarding keeping the minimum retirement age at 64 years, the Elysée Palace ended up giving the highest right and right.
In practice, the new government became an assessment of the goodwill of Marine Le Pen, who agreed to wait and see the measures proposed by Michel Barnier before voting on the motion of censure to the new head of government in the Assembly.
Strong security policies against immigrants and criminals and cuts in public spending, since some measures are saved to favor the purchasing power of poor voters who elect the 126 representatives that deep, can take advantage of Macron and Marine Le Pen.
With a conservative prime minister, Macron is betting on the continuity of the relationship and would like to accept a dose of austerity, which he avoided until now, to meet the requirements of the European stability agreement. Parliamentary discussions on the budget will be the acid test of the new government, starting on October 1st.
Macron asked Barnier to form the broadest governing coalition. It is not yet possible to know if any of the current ministers who resigned will be in the new cabinet. Perhaps, the Republican right, and those close to former President Nicolas Sarkozy, should win some government offices. Barnier has already met this Friday with several right-wing leaders to hear their “positions”.
Macron’s party and its centrist allies have 166 delegates and are expected to continue to weigh on the new government. The hope of the president is that Barnier will be able to attract the socialists, which seems difficult, but it is not difficult. The worst thing that can happen, after the mistake of dissolving the Assembly, is that the new government has a politician close to Marine Le Pen.
One of the conditions that ordered not to criticize Barnier from the beginning was that he included in his general policy speech the electoral reform to get the vote in proportion. In the regional system that is currently in power, the Marine Le Pen party won the most votes in the country, but due to the game of alliances and consensus in the Parliament, the party ended up withdrawing from the board of directors of Assembly and first councils. of the House.
For years, there has been a debate about whether it will be time for France to adopt a measure in the elections to have a more democratic representation based on the votes of the voters.
Protests on Saturday
Several days ago, since Macron made the decision of a head of government from the left, the New Popular Front has called for protests throughout the country for this Saturday (6), with the slogan “mobilization, censorship and resignation ”, in reference to the petition circulating in the Assembly recommending Macron’s resignation – at this time, something completely impossible.
127 demonstrations are planned across the country, to protest what the left calls the “government crisis” and the “anti-voter initiative”.
However, with Barnier’s appointment, the Socialist Party said it would not participate in the demonstrations. Go to the streets, on the eve of the closing of the Paralympic Games Paris 2024, activists from Insubmissive France (LFI), the radical left party founded by Jean-Luc Mélenchon, scientists and communists who are members of Unity.
The main unions have left their members free to participate, but they have a strike planned for October 1, which is the day the Congress returns from recess.
Negotiations to complete the service can last a week.
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