Michel Barnier is continuing discussions with a view to forming his government, but it is clear that he is talking more with the right and the presidential camp than with the left. The Prime Minister is already facing several refusals to participate in his future executive.
The essentials
- Michel Barnier, appointed Prime Minister, has been working on forming a new government since his arrival at Matignon three days ago. The Matignon tenant has begun consultations that continue this Monday, September 9, with a meeting with representatives of the elected members of the Liot group.
- The Prime Minister has mainly spoken with the right-wing forces and those of the presidential coalition. But “he continues his discussions with left-wing figures” also according to his entourage. Politico who cites Bernard Cazeneuve, former candidate for Matignon, among Michel Barnier’s interlocutors.
- The Barnier government, which is supposed to be a “rallying” executive, may not be named for several days, the time it takes for the Prime Minister to finish his negotiations with the various political forces. But Michel Barnier’s government could especially lean towards the right of LR according to a first list of ministerial candidates mentioned by Politico.
- The left has again expressed its refusal to participate in a Barnier government which, according to it, can only hold with the support of the National Rally. The far right, for its part, is also closed to government participation and was not contacted by Michel Barnier during the consultation period according to BFMTV.
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08:36 – The left absent from Matignon, but contacted by Barnier?
Since the start of negotiations initiated on Friday by Prime Minister Michel Barnier, no representative of the left has been received at Matignon. The latter, especially the leading figures of the New Popular Front, expressed their refusal to support and participate in the Barnier government as soon as the Prime Minister was appointed. But not all channels of communication would be closed between Matignon and the left according to an advisor to Michel Barnier who confided to Politico : “he continues his discussions with left-wing figures”. Among them is a certain Bernard Cazeneuve. Discussions could take place with other former left-wing Prime Ministers such as Jean-Marc Ayrault or Manuel Valls according to the same source who assures that “everything is open”.
08:15 – New day of consultation for Michel Barnier
Prime Minister Michel Barnier continues to exchange with certain political forces before naming the future government in a few days. This Monday with the representatives of the Liot group that the tenant of Matignon exchanges, the meeting is scheduled for 3 p.m. with Stéphane Lenormand and Christophe Naegalen.
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Michel Barnier wanted to form a “rally government”, bringing together ministers from different political backgrounds. Three days after the start of his mandate, his plan already seems compromised. Because the question is not so much: who does the Prime Minister want to appoint? But rather: who would agree to join the new executive? A political saga that promises to be a long one.
Recruitment seems difficult on the left. The political movement believes that if Michel Barnier is not censored and manages to form a government, it will be with the help of the National Rally. “No PS personality will join this government,” Olivier Faure, the party’s leader, assured on France Inter on Friday. The same story from the Ecologists, no member will be appointed minister: for Marine Tondeliersecretary general of the party, the “scenario simply does not exist”. According to the coordinator of LFI, Manuel Bompard, it is all the forces of the New Popular Front (NFP) that will refuse to participate in the Barnier government. Even Bernard Cazeneuve would have refused to join the future government, indicates The Parisian. Should Michel Barnier say goodbye to every minister from the left? Not necessarily. There are still personalities on the left who do not support the NFP.
What about the RN? The door seems to be closing there too, as Sébastien Chenu indicated on Europe 1. A theory that aims to be confirmed, if we are to believe the statements of Jean-Philippe Tanguy on BFMTV on Sunday. “Obviously, we will not participate in a government of Mr. Barnier.” There is no question of the far-right party, which came second in number of seats in the National Assembly, behind the NFP, being a “force of compromise”. The RN does not, however, intend to immediately censure the future government. The party wants to wait at least until Michel Barnier’s general policy speech, in order to judge “on the facts” the policy of the new occupant of Matignon. According to information from BFMTV On Saturday, the Prime Minister reportedly did not plan to contact Marine Le Pen to discuss possible appointments within the far-right camp.
Days or weeks before the appointment of the Barnier government?
If the long sequence of the nomination of the Prime Minister is finally over, the ministers of the Barnier government will not be appointed immediately. “The Prime Minister is giving himself time to put together his team” confided an advisor to the tenant of Matignon to Politico Friday. The time needed for negotiations, because if on the right several volunteers are easily found according to a Republican executive surveyed by The Parisian, It will be more difficult to find potential ministers on the left, as described above. Discussions could also be held with Emmanuel Macronwho has the final say in appointing the government: if the Prime Minister proposes, it is the President of the Republic who decides.
According to BFMTV, Michel Barnier could keep some ministers from the previous government. Emmanuel Macron is reportedly pushing for at least Rachida Dati to remain in the workforce, as well as Sébastien Lecornu to the Ministry of the Armed Forces, in office since May 2022. Catherine Vautrin and Gérald Darmanin could also be appointed. According to a source close to the president, Gérald Darmanin would be mentioned at Foreign Affairs, the continuous news channel details, even if he had indicated that he wanted to “leave the government and sit in the Assembly”. Others have already expressed the desire for a renewal. For Agnès Pannier-Runacher, resigning Minister of Agriculture and Food Sovereignty, it is time for a “change of casting”. “I think that the message that the French sent with the elections is that they wanted to change policy”, she said on BFMTV. “So I think we’re packing our bags.”
The Prime Minister continued political consultations throughout the weekend. Representatives of his political camp, LR, as well as the presidential camp were received at Matignon, including Gabriel Attal, former Prime Minister. It is therefore not to be excluded that the future government will be largely made up of ministers following the line of President Emmanuel Macron. The participation of members of the Horizons party in the future government “cannot be excluded”, declared the president of the Horizons group in the National Assembly to BFMTV on Sunday. According to Laurent Marcangeli, Michel Barnier’s political vision is close to his party. On the MoDem side, François Bayrou assured Sunday that he would not become a minister, but said nothing about the rest of his political family.
A risk of censorship that is a deterrent for ministers?
Michel Barnier “fully intends to form a government by himself and by himself,” his entourage told BFMTV. Emmanuel Macron may therefore have more difficulty imposing his casting on the Prime Minister, especially since for the first time he must deal with a head of government who is not from his camp. The President apparently does not want to interfere according to The Figaro to leave the field open to Michel Barnier, except for the reserved areas of the Elysée such as the Interior or Foreign Affairs. It remains to be seen whether Emmanuel Macron will actually succeed in staying in the background.
Because the Prime Minister could be tempted to clean house and renew almost the entire government to assert a change of policy. Among the potential ministers are also former candidates for Matignon such as Jean-Dominique Senard, the boss of Michelin, or Didier Migaud, the president of the High Authority for Transparency in Public Life. It should not be difficult to find Republicans willing to become ministers, while at each reshuffle the right has appeared as a breeding ground for ministerial candidates. But the most political profiles, such as Xavier Bertrand, have already refused to join the Barnier government, reports The Parisian.
Michel Barnier may have to be persuasive when faced with certain profiles of potential ministers worried by the fragile stability of the new government. If the Prime Minister is assured of not being censored before his general policy speech, the support of the presidential camp and the RN is not assured in the long term, but conditioned on the policy implemented. The Barnier government could therefore live for several months as if it were only a few weeks. Engaging in it as ministers therefore represents a risk for those who nourish personal ambitions in the long term, both for the heavyweights of the right and those of the former majority. “Who is going to come into this mess? Especially if it is to be removed in three months” thus sums up the Parisian a resigning minister apparently preferring to jump ship.