The new French Prime Minister, Michel Barnier, was the guest on the 8pm news on TF1 this Friday, September 6, the day after his appointment by Emmanuel Macron. Still too early for any major announcements, but a second opportunity all the same, after his speech the day before on the steps of the Hôtel de Matignon, to present his method and direction.
5 min
Not surprisingly, Michel Barnier does not intend, in the time allotted to him in his new delicate functions, to repeal the pension reform ofEmmanuel Macronwith his famous increase in the legal retirement age to 64, he who proposed 65 when he was running for the Élysée. To find out more, the new head of a government yet to be found promises that he will very soon have the opportunity to speak before the National Assembly, but also, he specifies, before the Senate.
” We are not going to question everything “, he explained this Friday evening on TF1. Michel Barnier wishes on the other hand ” open the debate “, with a view to a ” improvement ” of this criticized law, by including more, he insists, the social partners. ” Our country needs strong unions “, pleads the Prime Minister. In his sights, ” the most vulnerable people “, but this, in compliance with the ” budgetary framework “. Don’t tell him ” don’t ask ” to say where this will lead.
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“Nothing in common” with Marine Le Pen, but “respect”
In the absence of certainty, the Savoyard nevertheless makes a pious wish: ” I hope to be there until the end of the five-year term. “, he said. And to send in passing some pledges, failing to be able to go into detail, there again. Like this one: Michel Barnier does not forbid himself, these are his words, to think about a ” greater tax justice “, while the country’s budgetary situation is bad. His certainty is that for “our children “, ” We must not increase the debt “.
He intends to strive “to better control and better use public money “, and to rely on “on public services, because we need efficient public services ” he elaborated. “Growth is also needed “, and the latter, he said, “don’t fall from the sky “, ” does not come from the administration “, but ” businesses, small, large or medium, farmers, fishermen, our foreign trade “, without forgetting the French abroad and overseas.
We are fed up with writing blank checks for future generations, both in terms of ecology and public finances.
His course regarding entries into the territory?Controlled immigration “, ” rigorous and humanistic ” According to him, the French must get out of the “feeling that borders are sieves “. He intends to propose “concrete measures “, but we will have to wait to find out more. ” I have not had any discussion with Mrs (Marine) Le Pen “, he assures. He has with her, he adds, ” nothing in common or not much “. ” But I respect her. »
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“I don’t have a career plan “, promises Michel Barnier, 73 years old. “I know it’s hard. I think it’s time for everyone in their place to roll up their sleeves. And I’m going to do it. “The Prime Minister believes that we have ” perhaps not worked enough collectively ” in this country. And he added that ideas come from everywhere, and especially from the grassroots. “Every citizen is necessary, every citizen is important “, considers the former European Commissioner.
So, it remains to be seen who would be eligible to join his government.It will not be just a right-wing government ” he explains. “Maybe “Will there be outgoing ministers? He does not rule it out.”Yes “, there could be people on the left according to him. His leitmotif being “open the door and open the table to all who want it “And to launch other avenues, in addition to access to public services: low wages, medical deserts, health, or even housing.
Regarding proportional representation as a voting method to designate the next deputies in 2027, or even before, on the occasion of a new dissolution under the mandate of Emmanuel Macron, Michel Barnier assures that regarding this request expressed in the political class, there is “no red line ” His only wish being ” that the Fifth Republic works well “. ” I need, he delays, to discuss with all political groups ” on this subject as well.
Michel Barnier reveals his strategy: to distance himself from the president. “Parliament is important,” he argues, “it must be respected. And I will respect, as I said yesterday, all political forces.” “There is one thing I believe in, you were talking to me about “can we work differently”; yes, I think we work better with Parliament.” He wants to move forward in good understanding with the Élysée: ” The president must preside, and the government must govern. »
He is the President of the Republic and I have respect for the office, and for the man.
I come from social Gaullism. There will be people from my political family, there will naturally be men and women of good will who belong to the outgoing majority, and then I am not going to do the casting today, because I do not forbid myself from bringing together, around the same table, men and women who have skills.
Next step for Michel Barnier: the delicate formation of a government