Mounting threats of a parliamentary motion of no-confidence have put Michel Barnier’s new government under considerable duress before it has even had a chance to start work, as street protesters continued to voice their anger over the French prime minister’s new administration.
Eleven weeks after Emmanuel Macron, France’s president, called a snap general election, the new government was finally appointed on Saturday night. But there was little sense that the new cabinet, which signals a clear shift to the right, would bring calm into the political realm.
Opposition politicians from the left immediately announced their plans to undermine the government of Barnier – best known outside France for his role as the EU’s Brexit negotiator – with a no-confidence motion in parliament.
Far-right politicians have also criticised the new formation, calling it “same-old, same-old”.
After a tactical voting push ahead of the second round of voting in July, a leftwing alliance, the New Popular Front (NFP), emerged as the largest group in parliament but without enough seats to form a majority. Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally (RN) was the most successful single party in the race.
Barnier has pulled together a government consisting mainly of members of his conservative Republicans (LR) party and members of Macron’s centrist alliance.
Heated discussions between Macron and Barnier over the precise makeup of the cabinet, consisting of 39 posts, continued until shortly before the announcement of the lineup was made on Saturday night.
It has since been condemned by politicians from the left and right, with Jean-Luc Mélenchon criticising it as a “government of the general election losers”. He said that French citizens should have the chance to overturn the new administration “at the first available opportunity”.
Before the announcement, anticipating the rightwards shift of the cabinet, thousands of leftwing protesters took to the streets of Paris and other cities on Saturday to castigate the result, calling it a failure of leadership and a betrayal of French voters that made a joke of the election process.
Olivier Faure, chair of the Socialist party, described the new cabinet as “reactionary”, and “giving democracy the finger”. The RN leader, Jordan Bardella, denounced the new government, stating that it had “no future whatsoever”.
Macron’s party, Renaissance, was forced to forego some major ministerial positions, but still managed to obtain 12 out of 39 of them, prompting Fabien Roussel, the leader of the Communist party, to remark: “This is not a new government, it’s a reshuffle”.
François Hollande, a socialist former French president, said he believed a no-confidence motion was “a good solution”, calling the cabinet “the same as before, but with an even stronger rightwing makeup”, predicting that it would “mete out painful measures on our fellow citizens”.
Should a no-confidence motion occur, it would require an absolute majority in parliament, which would then force the government to resign with immediate effect.
But observers said the scenario was unlikely to happen as it would require the far-right and leftist blocs, who are arch enemies, to vote together.
Barnier’s first big challenge will be to put forward a 2025 budget plan that will tackle what he has referred to as France’s “very serious” financial circumstances.
The country has been reprimanded for breaching the European Union’s budget rules.
Submission of the reform budget to parliament in October will be down to Antoine Armand, the new 33-year-old finance minister.
Other key cabinet posts have been given to Jean-Noël Barrot, the new foreign minister, while the rightwing Republican MP Bruno Retailleau will take up the post as interior minister and whose brief will cover immigration, amid concerns even among Macron’s allies over his radical and uncompromising stance on the issue.
Barnier is expected to appear on TV later on Sunday to outline his plans, before addressing parliament with a major speech on 1 October.
