More than a week after his arrival at Matignon, Michel Barnier still has to form his government team. This will not include any ecologist elected officials, confirmed Marine Tondelier, according to whom “someone who claims to be left-wing and who goes to the Barnier government is not left-wing”. The Republicans for their part have asked the new Prime Minister to implement “a right-wing policy”, with “more security” and “less immigration”.
Key information to remember
⇒ The RN “gives a chance” to Michel Barnier, whom it does not consider an “ally”
⇒ There will be no environmentalists in the new government
⇒ Stéphane Le Foll declined a ministerial position
Stéphane Le Foll has refused a ministerial position
He too will not join the government. On RTL, the former Minister of Agriculture, Stéphane Le Foll, said that he had been offered a ministerial position by Michel Barnier, which he had refused. “It’s a firm and definitive no,” said the (PS) mayor of Le Mans, who predicted that the future government would be “right-wing.”
“Michel Barnier is not an ally” of the RN, assures Sébastien Chenu
The spokesperson for the National Rally, Sébastien Chenu, announced this Friday morning that Michel Barnier had not yet received or contacted a representative of the RN as part of his consultations. “We have the feeling that he meets all the people who have lost, but to whom he proposes to govern. It is a rather original conception of parliamentary democracy,” he expressed his surprise on franceinfo.
“Michel Barnier is not an ally, he is a political adversary, but we are giving him a chance to show us that he is capable of changing his software. If he does not do so, we will be there for the censorship. We are not ruling anything out,” he also declared, again referring to the red line that a tax increase would be for his party.
No environmentalists in the Barnier government
Michel Barnier’s future government will not include any Green elected officials, Marine Tondelier announced on franceinfo this Friday morning. “We did not discuss the participation of Greens, it does not make sense,” declared the national secretary of EELV, who spoke on the phone with the new Prime Minister on Tuesday. “Someone who claims to be left-wing and who goes to the Barnier government is not left-wing,” she added, while indicating that she will be received at Matignon, with Cyrielle Chatelain and Guillaume Gontard, group leaders in the National Assembly and the Senate, on a date that “has not yet been set.”
Marine Tondelier also dismissed the call for compromise launched by the president on Thursday evening: “Emmanuel Macron is the antithesis of compromise,” she castigated, recalling that on the pension reform, the head of state “forced his way through, he brutalized political life.”
Edouard Philippe was “a formidable Prime Minister”
On his home turf, Emmanuel Macron judged that Edouard Philippe had been “a formidable Prime Minister”, but did not comment on the candidacy for the Elysée of the mayor of Le Havre, affirming that “we are not going to put ourselves on pause until 2027”. “I chose Edouard Philippe seven years ago because I have confidence in him. He has been a formidable Prime Minister at my side. Now, I am mainly focused on what is happening today and I want the country to succeed”, explained the President of the Republic, assuring “to see far” but “try to do things in the right order”.
Emmanuel Macron calls again for “compromises”
From Le Havre, where he was taking part in a commemorative visit alongside Edouard Philippe, Emmanuel Macron spoke on Thursday of a “new era” with a fragmented Parliament, saying he “hoped” that “compromises will be made” between the different political forces in the formation of a government. “We have a new era with a Parliament that represents France in its diversity and that will require compromises. It is up to the government to carry out projects, to pass laws, but also to administer. The president has his own skills,” he explained, also declaring: “I hope that compromises will be made for the country because that is what we need.”
He refused, however, to comment on his relationship with Michel Barnier, a member of the Republicans who he appointed to Matignon. “We work in an intimate, trusting manner, but we don’t reveal things to everyone outside. […] “He works, he listens, he consults and he will build,” he assured.
LR asks Michel Barnier for “a right-wing policy”
Laurent Wauquiez asked the new Prime Minister on Thursday to implement “a right-wing policy”, with “more security” and “less immigration”, promising him the “very clear support” of all the parliamentarians of his party. “The French do not want things to continue as before. They want there to be a break and they want the country to get back on its feet. And our conviction is that in a certain number of areas, we need a right-wing policy so that there are no tax increases, so that there is more security, so that there is less immigration”, explained the leader of the Republican deputies, after having received the new tenant of Matignon during the parliamentary days of the right.