After the parliamentary elections, it seemed that France would move more to the left, but the opposite happened, writes Miina Väisänen, ‘s France reporter.
Miina VäisänenFrench journalist
PARIS Leap to the right. This is how the new French government has been described.
The formation of the government was completed last night, two weeks the prime minister Michel Barnier after appointment.
Records have been broken recently, as the appointment of the prime minister had to wait two months after the summer parliamentary elections. It is completely exceptional in France.
A turn towards “old France”
With the new government of 39 ministers, France will become even stronger in its value base right.
Prime minister Michel Barnier the government he leads consists mostly of politicians from the center-right and far-right parties, many of whom are old allies of Macron. Some are political veterans, some newer faces.
Many of the government ministers are represented by the president Emmanuel Macron fairly liberal value base. Some, on the other hand, are even amazingly conservative in terms of values.
The new interior minister Bruno Retailleau there is openly opposed gay marriage and adding the right to abortion to the constitution. For example, the recent minister of education has also been against gay marriage Patrick Hetzel and the minister responsible for consumption Laurence Garnier.
Political scientist Vincent Martigny said Le Monde magazine in the interviewthat the new government represents “old France” and looks more like the right wing of 2012. By this he refers to old, conservative Catholic values.
The contrast with the past is great, because just a moment ago France was led by a 35-year-old openly homosexual prime minister Gabriel Attal.
A complete strike from the opposition
The new government has already come under severe criticism.
Barnier’s government has been called a “government of losers”, as it consists mainly of members of Macron’s centre-right Jässe coalition and the Republicans’ right-wing conservative party. In the elections, the Republican party got only 46 representatives to the parliament.
The left in particular accuses Macron of neglecting the people and democracy. The left is bitter that Macron snubbed its prime ministerial candidate by Lucie Castet.
Although the left-wing coalition New People’s Front did not get a simple majority in the parliamentary elections, it was still the winner of the elections with 182 representatives. Traditionally in France, the prime minister is elected from the winning party.
Far-right coalition National coalition Marine Le Pen however, threatened the government with a vote of no confidence if Macron had chosen a prime minister from the left. This hardly bothered Macron, for whom a leftist prime minister would have been too big a threat to his economic policy line.
Cheers for the new government have not been heard from the extreme right either.
A couple of weeks ago, Le Pen had a slightly more favorable attitude towards the new prime minister than the left. However, this week Le Pen already announced her party preparing for new parliamentary elections as soon as next year, because he doesn’t think the government will survive more than a few months.
The most important thing now is the economy
One of the most interesting appointments in the government is the new finance minister. A young political upstart, 33 years old, was chosen for the position from Macron’s camp Antoine Armand. His task will probably be one of the most difficult in the near future, as the deadline for forming next year’s budget is approaching.
The economy is now the most pressing political issue, because France’s public finances are in a bad mess.
The country was recently put under the EU’s surveillance category due to an excessively large public finance deficit. Brussels is now waiting for France’s plan on how the country intends to balance its public finances and reduce its deficit in the next few years.
So tough and painful decisions are in store, whether the French want it or not. Prime Minister Barnier has described the French public finances the situation “very worrying”.
Yesterday, Saturday, thousands of people gathered all over France to oppose Macron’s policies, where many feel they have been forgotten. However, the protests have been significantly weaker in recent weeks than what was seen, for example, in connection with the 2023 pension reform.
There is weariness and cynicism in the air towards a system where the people are ignored. Many saw the summer parliamentary elections as an opportunity for change in French politics. However, the country’s new government will continue almost from where it left off before.
Macron got what he wanted.