After Change of France’s Foreign Minister Stéphane Séjourné to the EU Commission, the first contours of the next French government are emerging. The conservative Prime Minister Michel Barnier continued his deliberations on Tuesday. He wanted to meet with his party colleague David Lisnard, the mayor of Cannes, as well as with representatives of the Communist Party. Barnier had announced that the to present new government by the weekend.
In addition to Séjourné, the current Minister of Economy, Bruno Le Maire, will also leave the cabinet. He said he wants to withdraw from politics and return to teaching. The current Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, could remain in the government. He is said to have expressed interest in the post of Foreign Minister.
Barnier will probably have difficulties recruiting representatives from the left camp for his government team. Left alliance New People’s Front refuses to cooperate with himbecause it feels that the appointment of a conservative prime minister has robbed it of its election victory. According to information from the newspaper “Le Parisien”, the Green MEP Karima Delli, an advocate of night trains, is being considered for the position of Transport Minister.
In Barnier’s own party, the Republican Rightsthere is – after initial hesitation – great interest in cabinet posts. Possible candidates include the leader of the parliamentary group of the deputies in the National Assembly, Laurent Wauquiez, and his colleague in the Senate, Bruno Retailleau.
However, the possible awarding of ministries to Barnier’s party colleagues on the Republican Right has been met with criticism from the other parties. Barnier’s party only received 47 of the 577 MPs in the early parliamentary elections in July.
Meanwhile, the left-wing populists have launched a – hopeless – motion to remove President Emmanuel Macron. The Socialists voted to allow this motion to clear a first parliamentary hurdle. The motion was thus referred to the relevant committee of the National Assembly. The Socialists also made it clear that they would no longer support the motion after this.
In the dispute over the draft budget, which was actually supposed to be presented on October 1, the left-wing populist committee chairman Eric Coquerel announced that he wanted to personally collect the necessary documents from the Prime Minister on Tuesday. Barnier had indicated that a postponement of one week was possible.
Since the unclear outcome of the election, France has found itself in one of the deepest government crises in recent times. The current government has only been in office in a caretaker capacity for two months. (AFP)
