The day after historic censorship, Michel Barnier presented his resignation on Thursday, December 5, to Emmanuel Macron, who will speak at 8 p.m. on television in an attempt to set a course as a political period of rare uncertainty.
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Only three months after his appointment to Matignon, Michel Barnier took the path to the Élysée this morning to present his resignation to Emmanuel Macron who thus returns to square one and must find a new Prime Minister in a political context even more complicated than in September. Marine Le Pen, then inclined towards indulgence, decided to toughen her tone and did not hesitate to condemn Michel Barnier. She intends to continue to weigh in particular on the budget that she says she wants “ co-build » with the next head of government, reports Valérie Gas from the RFI political department.
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It is now a question for the Head of State of resolving the squaring of the circle, between renewal of “ common base » between Macronists and LR or broadening its contours in order to create a government coalition better equipped to resist a future attempt at censorship.
The possibility of a “non-censorship” agreement
The Republicans do not will not fall » the next government even if they decide not to participate, assured their leader in the Assembly, Laurent Wauquiez, on France 2. “ We will not be stuck, we will not be in the strategy of the worst », he added, conditioning his party’s participation in the new team according to the priorities that will be put on the table.
The boss of the Macronist deputies, Gabriel Attal, who will bring together the tenors of Renaissance in the morning, proposes a “non-censorship” agreement with the Socialist Party to escape the supervision of the National Rally. The left is calling for Matignon again, but the possibility of a “non-censorship” agreement with the central bloc seems doomed to failure as long as the PS does not dissociate itself from France Insoumise, its ally within the Nouveau Popular front. The equation is all the more complex as a new dissolution and new legislative elections cannot take place before July.
Who for Matignon?
Emmanuel Macron must address the French this Thursday evening on the 8 p.m. news. According to indiscretions in the press, he would have raised the possibility of appointing a new Prime Minister immediately.
It is true that France needs a budget, but its advisers respond that nothing has been decided. Names are nevertheless circulating, some already mentioned in September: Sébastien Lecornu, the Minister of the Armed Forces, François Bayrou, Bernard Cazeneuve, others are emerging like Bruno Retailleau, François Baroin, the mayor of Troyes, Thierry Breton, the former European commissioner, or François Villeroy de Galhau, the governor of the Bank of France, a great official of the State in extricating himself from partisan tensions. The bets are on, but a parliamentarian from the presidential camp is worried and declares: “ I don’t know where we’re going anymore, we have to stop the massacre. »
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The task of the future holder promises to be, in any case, immense. In his speech before the Assembly which was preparing to dismiss him, Michel Barnier warned: reality » budgetary not « will not disappear by the enchantment of a motion of censure “. Expected at 6.1% of GDP in 2024, much higher than the 4.4% forecast for fall 2023, the public deficit would miss its target of 5% in the absence of a budget, and political uncertainty would weigh on the cost of debt and growth.
Michel Barnier, the shortest-lived Prime Minister of the Fifth Republic
The emotion was perceptible in the voice of Michel Barnier when he gave his last speech in the hemicycle of the National Assembly before the censure was voted. He who arrived at Matignon with the ambition of implementing a new method based on “listening, dialogue, respect” failed to meet the challenge, reports Valérie Gas from the RFI political department.
The Brexit super negotiator did not find the path to compromise with the deputies to overcome the handicap of the absence of a majority, he therefore leaves his functions with the inglorious title of the most ephemeral Prime Minister of the Fifth Republic, he who had scratched his predecessor Gabriel Attal during the transfer of power by reminding him that he had only lasted eight months at Matignon.
Cruelty of an unprecedented political sequence where the experience of Michel Barnier, who held all local and national functions, was not enough to negotiate a budget. His desire to let the parliamentary debate take place was in vain. His last minute concessions to the National Rally drew criticism from within his base. Michel Barnier failed, but his opponents recognize that he is a man “ respectable » who did what he could.