Fifty days after the resignation of Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, the appointment of his successor has been postponed again. Emmanuel Macron, who seemed ready to appoint Xavier Bertrand on Wednesday, has backtracked and is exploring other options, including that of the former right-wing European Commissioner Michel Barnier. The Élysée Palace decided not to make an announcement on Wednesday evening, contrary to what was still expected early this afternoon, a source close to the president confirmed to AFP.
Key information to remember
⇒ An “anti-Bertrand front” in Macronie
⇒ Bernard Cazeneuve dismissed?
⇒ Hollande: “the duration is too long”
“Uncensorability” is the main criterion
“We are moving forward. The president’s criteria remain ‘non-censorability'”, that is to say the guarantee that the future government will not be immediately overthrown in a very fragmented National Assembly, “and the capacity to form coalitions because the political situation requires it”, was all this close friend of the head of state explained.
In essence, this seems to indicate that Emmanuel Macron has come to the conclusion that the names he has been testing so far, Xavier Bertrand on the right and Bernard Cazeneuve on the left, do not meet these criteria. In fact, the presidential entourage did not repeat on Wednesday evening, as it has been doing tirelessly for three days, that these two options were still being considered.
An “anti-Bertrand front” in Macronie
Several members of the presidential camp are talking about an “anti-Bertrand front” that has arisen in Macronie against the very probable nomination of the president of Hauts-de-France, a member of the Les Républicains party and a supporter of the social right.
The National Rally and the New Popular Front were in fact threatening to censor him from the outset, and have the numbers to achieve this in the Assembly. “Bertrand is most likely 100% dead,” notes a ministerial advisor, “because he would never have had a majority on any text.”
Cazeneuve sidelined?
Former socialist Prime Minister but not guaranteed to receive the green light from the PS which he left, Bernard Cazeneuve was himself pushed aside by Emmanuel Macron because he wanted to remain “firm in his ways” on a left-wing programme, without immediately seeking compromises with the centre, believes a Macronist official.
The Barnier track
So, all to start over? On Wednesday evening, the name of Michel Barnier, 73, who was also Jacques Chirac’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Brexit negotiator on behalf of the European Union, was circulating insistently. According to a resigning minister, the Elysée spoke with him during the day, while others praise his “less divisive” and “more consensual” profile.
“He is very popular with right-wing MPs without being an irritant on the left. If Xavier Bertrand is really stuck, I don’t see any other options than his,” she says.
The Lisnard option is moving away
The option of the mayor of Cannes and president of the Association of Mayors of France (AMF), David Lisnard, put forward during the day, had also quickly moved away, in this waltz of often meteoric names.
RN prefers Borloo
The RN has made it known in recent days that it is head-on opposed to Xavier Bertrand, whom it considers too hostile to its ideas and its voters. The far-right party, which would also censure a Cazeneuve government, is less hostile to other right-wing figures, such as the former centrist minister Jean-Louis Borloo quoted by Sébastien Chenu on LCI, because he “behaves well” towards it.
Threat of censorship on the left
On the left, the threat of censure was also brandished against a Bertrand team. The Insoumis even continue to affirm that they will censure any other Prime Minister than Lucie Castets, the NFP candidate already rejected by Emmanuel Macron. The leader of the Socialists Olivier Faure expressed strong reservations about Bernard Cazeneuve, but without completely closing the door. It would be “a kind of anomaly” to choose “the only man of the left who fought against the Popular Front”, he judged on TF1.
“Whatever the name, we want the repeal or moratorium of the pension reform, wage increases and an increased budget to invest in public services,” also argued on RTL the national secretary of the Communist Party Fabien Roussel. Before ironizing on BFMTV about this “bad soap opera” which resembles “The Young and the Restless.”
Hollande: “the duration is too long”
“The duration is too long,” also protested former socialist president François Hollande on the program Quotidien on TMC. “Sometimes it is better to decide badly than not to decide,” he added, considering that Emmanuel Macron, who nevertheless recognized the defeat of his camp in the elections, did not want to “cohabit.”
Liot: “the street will take over”
“The more time passes, the more catastrophic it becomes. Anger is growing. People are asking us when we will start working. There is an urgent need to act, otherwise the streets will take over,” warned the head of the centrist group Liot, Stéphane Lenormand.