The Prime Minister has finally been appointed, but there is still a whole “rally government” to form. Michel Barnier could have difficulty recruiting, so who will be the future ministers?
The Hôtel Matignon has finally found its new tenant. And it is on Michel Barnier that Emmanuel Macron has set his sights, motivated by the Republican’s ability to avoid being overthrown by a motion of censure upon his arrival at the head of the government. An exploit that many on the left consider to be the fruit of an arrangement with the National Rally: Marine Le Pen’s party having announced that it would not censure the new Prime Minister a priori, but would wait at least until the general policy speech and judge the head of government’s policy on the evidence.
If the long sequence of the nomination of the Prime Minister is finally over, the political saga still promises to be long. It is now up to Michel Barnier to form an executive and then “a government of unity” according to the Elysée press release. A way of putting back on the table the “broad coalition” going from the Republican right to the social-democratic left wanted by Emmanuel MacronBut the task will not be easy, as left-wing forces have made known their desire to censure the Prime Minister and his new government.
Days or weeks before the appointment of the Barnier government?
The ministers of the Barnier government will not be appointed immediately. “The Prime Minister is giving himself time to put together his team,” an advisor to the Matignon tenant told Politico. 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. Discussions could also be held with Emmanuel Macron who has the final say in appointing the government: if the Prime Minister proposes, it is the President of the Republic who disposes.
But Michel Barnier “definitely intends to form a government himself and alone,” 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. But 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.
Right-wing, Marconi ministers, but not left-wing?
Theoretically, Michel Barnier’s “rally government” should include ministers from different political backgrounds and the Prime Minister plans to receive representatives of the “main political forces present in the chamber” for his first days at Matignon.
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 ministers. Michel Barnier could also find volunteers among the resigning ministers formerly from the right, Gérald Darmanin and Rachida Dati in the lead. Other ministers and pure Macronist products would also be inclined to stay in office. But 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. But the most political profiles, Bernard Cazeneuve and Xavier Bertrand, have already refused to join the Barnier government, reports The Parisian.
Recruitment will be more difficult on the left. “No PS personality will enter this government” assured Olivier Faure, the party leader, on France Inter. According to LFI coordinator Manuel Bompard, all the forces of the New Popular Front (NFP) will refuse to participate in the Barnier government. But the left-wing ministerial candidates could be sought outside the Assembly and elsewhere than among the NFP supporters. The door also seems to be closing on the RN side as Sébastien Chenu indicated on Europe 1.
A risk of censorship that is a deterrent for ministers?
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.
13:20 – LR in the Barnier government? It will depend on the program according to Wauquiez
“We are convinced that Michel Barnier’s personality has the assets that can bring together the conditions for success,” said Laurent Wauquiez at the end of his meeting with the Prime Minister. However, the leader of the Republican Right group did not make any comments on the participation of LR elected officials in the government, without closing the door either. “For the moment, nothing has been decided. Decisions will be made based on this program,” said the MP, who indicated that discussions are “set to continue.” The same story from the leader of the LR senators, Bruno Retailleau: “What is most important now, beyond the casting, is the project.”
1:01 p.m. – Other meetings planned this weekend for Michel Barnier
Michel Barnier has started to meet with the various political forces and he will continue this weekend according to The Parisian. The Prime Minister is due to receive one of his predecessors at Matignon, MP Elisabeth Borne, and the President of the National Assembly Yaël Braun-Pivet on Saturday. On Sunday, it is the head of the Horizons party and therefore a member of the presidential coalition, Edouard Philippe. The man is also a former tenant of Matignon, and above all, he is the one who has remained in office the longest.
12:49 – Michel Barnier meets the political forces, starting with the right and Macronie
Michel Barnier began discussions with representatives of the “main political forces present in the chamber” this Friday, September 6, for his first day at Matignon. The Prime Minister, who must form a “rallying government”, is already opening dialogue, but it is with the right and the presidential camp that he is starting. He received Gabriel Attal, now president of the Ensemble pour la République group (formerly Renaissance) in the Assembly, then Gérard Larcher, Laurent Wauquiez and Bruno Retailleau, respectively president of the Senate, president of the LR group of deputies and president of the LR group of senators. The discussions with the political forces are going “very well” and are “full of energy”, Michel Barnier assured AFP.
12:30 – The government’s casting at the heart of a meeting between Barnier and Macron
Michel Barnier and received by Emmanuel Macron at the Elysée this Friday, September 6, the day after his appointment to Matignon. The composition of the future government that will be the issue of the coming days for the Prime Minister is at the heart of the interview, necessary discussions since according to the Constitution, the Head of State appoints the government ministers on the proposal of the Prime Minister. But Michel Barnier intends to choose his ministers with a lot of independence, with the exception of the personalities who will manage areas reserved for the President of the Republic, such as the Ministry of the Interior or that of Foreign Affairs. Emmanuel Macron had put his two cents in the compositions of the previous governments of his mandate, but he could this time be kept further aside because of the “cohabitation”, or rather the “demanding coexistence” according to the words of Emmanuel Macron.