When the appointment of the new Prime Minister Michel Barnier was announced on Thursday, September 5, 2024, an avalanche of political reactions greeted this political sequence. Particularly on the left, while the New Popular Front (NFP) claims victory in the legislative elections of July 2024. The National Rally (RN), which has 126 deputies, has indicated that it will judge on the evidence and that there will be no motion of censure in the immediate future.
After the appointment of Michel Barnier as Prime Ministerthe reactions of the political class were not long in coming. Xavier Bertrand, former minister of Nicolas Sarkozy and president of Hauts-de-France, expected again until recently for the position, congratulated the elected official and wished him success.
The leader of the Republicans, Laurent Wauquiez, congratulated the new Prime Minister, from his party, assuring that he had ” all the assets to succeed in this difficult mission entrusted to him.” “He is a man of great quality “And this, without specifying whether his party, which has 47 deputies in the Assembly, was sticking to its position of not entering the government.
The National Rally in Waiting
The RN has already made it known that the party would wait for Michel Barnier’s general policy statement before taking a position. Questioned by the media about the possible filing of a motion of censure, Marine Le Pen answered this: ” No. (…) We have set a number of conditions, the first being to have a Prime Minister who is respectful of the RN voters (…) I think that Mr Barnier meets this criterion. For the rest, on the substantive issues, we will wait to see what Mr Barnier’s general policy discourse is and how he leads the compromises that are necessary on the upcoming budget. »
No “blank check” for Renaissance
At Renaissance, the presidential camp, a source indicated to AFP that the party of the head of state would present “in the coming hours” its “programmatic priorities to the Prime Minister”, specifying that there would be “no automatic censorship but demands on the substance without a blank check”.
Yaël Braun-Pivet, President of the National Assembly, calls for the resumption of parliamentary work at ” French service “.
Fifty-two days after his resignation, Gabriel Attal wanted to thank the French. As the youngest Prime Minister, he is giving way to the oldest Prime Minister of the Fifth Republic. The transfer of power will take place at 6 p.m. on September 5 at Matignon.
Edouard Philippe (Horizons), who has clearly distanced himself from Emmanuel Macron since the dissolution, said for his part: we will be many to helpr ».
Emmanuel Macron’s first Prime Minister (2017-2020), who, like Mr Barnier, comes from the right-wing party Les Républicains (LR), this week made his candidacy for the “next presidential election” official.
The New Popular Front is up in arms
The left-wing alliance that came out on top, but without an absolute majority, in the legislative elections, has reiterated its indignation. Marine Tondelier reacted via a video on social networks. The national secretary of EELV, who fought all summer for the candidacy of Lucie Castets, in which she explains having interrupted the Greens’ leadership meeting to react to the nomination of Michel Barnier to Matignon:
” The first word that comes to mind is “who are we kidding?” It’s a real scandal. It’s often said that the shortest jokes are the best, this one was already too long, and this ending no longer makes anyone laugh. (…) It’s the political history of the country that is being written (…) and this unprecedented story is taking an extremely worrying turn (…) I am extremely worried about what has just happened. Emmanuel Macron has been obstructing for weeks. His goal was to avoid having to change his policy. And there, the course is not going to change, but with Mr. Barnier, the main risk is that this course will intensify to the detriment of the most precarious, to the detriment of the planet, to the detriment of the democratic situation of this country that we were trying, at the New Popular Front, to repair “.
Mathilde Panot (LFI) considers that the French president does not respect the ” popular sovereignty » and the “choice from the ballot box”. Same reaction from Jean-Luc Mélenchonwho believes that ” the election was stolen from the French “And that it was therefore not a Prime Minister from the NFP who was chosen, despite the result of the legislative elections: ” It will be a member among others, of a party that was last in the legislative election (…) The election was therefore stolen from the French people, the message was therefore denied and now, we discover a Prime Minister who is appointed with the permission, and perhaps on the suggestion of the RN, while the second round of the legislative elections had been devoted to thwarting the RN. »
On RFI, Thomas Portes, LFI deputy, explained: “ Michel Barnier is about increasing working hours, retirement at 65 (…) People came to the polls to say that they no longer wanted this policy. (…) We have started the impeachment procedure. I remind you, there is an important date, it is Saturday (September 7, 2024, editor’s note): take to the streets to bring this president to reason “.
On the socialist side, the deputy and former president François Hollande, delivered his analysis of the scenario finally chosen by Emmanuel Macron. There is almost certainty “that if Mr. Barnier could be designated” It is because the RN, precisely the extreme right, has given a form of discharge “. ” I believe he will have to explain this to the Assembly. “, he added. When Olivier Faure speaks of “ regime crisis “.
Among the communists, Ian Brossat made fun of the party from which Michel Barnier comes, the LR, which obtained 5.41% of the votes, or 39 seats in the second round of the legislative elections, a very weak result behind all the other political forces.
Also readFrance: Michel Barnier appointed Prime Minister by Emmanuel Macron