Poll says French largely satisfied with Macron's choice of PM
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00:00Today, the new French Prime Minister, Michel Barnier, is holding talks with political groups
00:05as he seeks to form a government after months of political turmoil.
00:10Barnier was appointed by President Macron last Thursday, breaking weeks of deadlock
00:15after the elections in July delivered a hung parliament.
00:18Barnier hails from the right of French politics and on Saturday, over 100,000 people, most
00:24of them from the left, took to the streets, accusing Macron of failing to honour the results
00:29of the vote, which saw a left-wing bloc win the most seats.
00:34Well, Angela Diffley is looking into all of this for us today.
00:37And Angela, first of all, how significant do you think those protests were over the
00:41weekend?
00:42I think that those not involved with them might have feared bigger protests.
00:47The fact that the Olympics were on perhaps was a factor in the turnout, which had at
00:52some stages been predicted to be higher.
00:56Polls do show that 74% of the French feel that Macron has not respected the wishes of
01:03the French people in his choice of Prime Minister.
01:07And 55% of the French electorate say they think the election was in some way stolen.
01:14Those numbers are important to keep in mind.
01:18That said, this demonstration, the mainstream socialists did not join it, neither did the
01:23trade unions.
01:25We will see whether or not it gathers momentum.
01:28The fact that that left-wing bloc, ranging from the mainstream left right through to
01:34the very far left, with the highest number of seats in Parliament, the fact that they
01:39have said they will table a vote of no confidence and they will vote down, try to vote down
01:45Barnier's government, in a sense automatically gives power to the Rassemblement National
01:53in the far right.
01:54Now, of course, if people cast their minds back to the election, candidates and many
01:59French voters joined together, joined forces to stop that far right national rally, which
02:05came first in the first round, from getting a majority of seats in Parliament.
02:10And now they end up holding considerable influence over this new government because they have
02:16said they will look at the programme, they will not automatically vote down Michel Barnier's
02:22government.
02:23They've left it very, very ambivalent, which puts him in a difficult position and gives
02:27them a lot of influence.
02:29And Barnier now meeting with people sort of across the political spectrum, is he, as he
02:33tries to form his government?
02:35Yeah, he is trying to get as many different voices as possible.
02:41He is from the mainstream right.
02:44He will not have any far right members in his government.
02:48He has always maintained a clear divide, although at times he himself has been on the right
02:52of the mainstream right.
02:54The left have all excluded themselves and said they will not take part in any government.
02:59So that leaves him with people from the centre and people from the mainstream right.
03:04And it's very possible that he might try to pick some left leaning figures from perhaps
03:09the charity sector or NGOs.
03:13His own platform, he made clear talking to the French people on one of the main news
03:18channels on Friday night.
03:20He will prioritise immigration and the cost of living.
03:24And above all, he needs to get the French public deficit down.
03:28That means he needs to rein in public spending.
03:31That is where he might have problems with Marine Le Pen's Rassemblement National.
03:36It's possible that there might be an understanding reached.
03:41We will wait to see.
03:42Angela Diffie, thank you.