Visit our website:
http://www.france24.com
Like us on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/FRANCE24.English
Follow us on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/France24_en
Category
đź—ž
NewsTranscript
00:00We're moving here to France, where we haven't had a government since July, but that may
00:05finally be changing.
00:07Prime Minister Michel Barnier has submitted his proposed cabinet to President Emmanuel
00:12Macron, and confirmation is expected this weekend.
00:16Now the full list of 38 names hasn't been made public, but both the left wing and the
00:21far right are already mad about it.
00:24Laurent Bersteker looks at some of the new faces being proposed.
00:31After two months of political deadlock, France could be edging towards a new government.
00:37Prime Minister Michel Barnier submitted his list for a new cabinet to Emmanuel Macron
00:41on Thursday, with some names already filtering through.
00:45These include Conservative Senate leader Bruno Retailleau, touted for the Interior Ministry.
00:51A nomination that would mark a shift to the right, but not enough to satisfy the far right
00:56national rally.
00:59Between him and his predecessor, Mr Darmanin, there's not much difference.
01:03They're the same, they have the same political affiliation and ideas.
01:07The same failures as well.
01:11France has been unable to form a government since July's snap elections saw a left wing
01:16coalition win the largest number of seats in parliament.
01:19But without a working majority, and plagued by internal disputes, the left has been unable
01:24to build on these electoral gains.
01:26Last month, Macron rejected its pick for prime minister, nominating former Brexit negotiator
01:31Michel Barnier instead.
01:33A move widely criticized by socialist MPs, yet some remained quietly hopeful the new
01:39cabinet would reflect the will of the French people expressed in the July polls.
01:47We don't have a choice but to stay optimistic, and we can only hope that of all of the cabinets
01:52we've seen under Mr Macron, the last one will be the best.
01:59Other possible nominations include centrist Jean-Noël Barrault for foreign minister,
02:04and SĂ©bastien Lecornu staying on as defence minister.
02:08The full make-up of the new cabinet should be unveiled by Sunday.
02:13For some analysis of this story, we welcome Renaud Foucault to the program.
02:17He is an economist and a senior lecturer at Lancaster University.
02:22Thanks so much for being with us here on France 24 today.
02:25Now our viewers may recall that it was a left wing coalition that earned the most seats
02:31in parliament back in the July snap elections, so not a majority.
02:35However, Barnier's proposed cabinet seems to tilt further to the right than the previous
02:41more centrist government.
02:42So how is Macron justifying this based on what voters decided?
02:47So the truth of the second round of the election of July the 7th is that it was neither the
02:52left or the centre who won the election, it was a republican front.
02:56The left wing candidate withdrew candidates to help centrists be elected, centrists withdrew
03:01candidates to see left wing people being elected, and in the end they were the people who had
03:06the legitimacy to get out the centre and the left to form a government.
03:11In practice, it became impossible.
03:13So on the left, they would say it's because Macron refused to nominate Lucie Castex, who
03:18was the prime minister advanced by the left.
03:21Emmanuel Macron and people around him would say that the left refused to compromise.
03:25But as a matter of fact, the only majority that became available was this strange majority
03:31at the moment in which it will be a right wing prime minister.
03:34And despite all the pantomime of saying, oh, this is not a true right wing government,
03:39this is a government that can only exist with the implicit support of Marine Le Pen
03:43and the far right.
03:44So this is indeed not the result of the election.
03:47The blame game, the jury is still out.
03:50So now that the cabinet has been proposed, what's the opposition saying?
03:54And is there anything that they could do to try to stop this government?
03:59The left wing opposition at the moment, they cannot do anything.
04:02The only thing they can hope for is that at some point Marine Le Pen decides to pull the
04:06plug on the government.
04:08So Le Pen has said, we will not vote against the government as a matter of principle at
04:13the beginning, but we reserve the possibility of doing so.
04:16She is in an incredibly comfortable position, though.
04:19She can complain as much as she wants when there will be budget cuts and things like
04:23that.
04:24But she will wait for the moment when it's the most promising, the most useful for her
04:28politically to pull the plug.
04:29And then maybe if it happens in a year, there will be another chance to form something with
04:34the left.
04:35But in the meantime, the left is completely out of the game.
04:38They can only do what French politicians like to do the most, which is to get ready for
04:41the next presidential election.
04:42And in that sense, it's a bit of a victory for some of them because they will remain
04:46sort of pure.
04:47They will not be accountable for the coming tax raise and budget cuts.
04:51Right.
04:52Well, that brings me to my next question, because, well, we know some of the names that
04:56Barnier has proposed.
04:58There doesn't appear to be any big political names in the mix, like GĂ©rald Darmanin, for
05:03example.
05:05You mentioned the upcoming presidential election.
05:08Is that why you think that these bigger names aren't included or are there other reasons
05:13as well?
05:14Well, definitely the frontrunner for the traditional right, Les RĂ©publicains, Laurent Wauquiez,
05:20was offered to be minister of finance.
05:23Of course, it's a super prestigious job.
05:25But I guess in his mind, he thought, no, the only job someone from the right would like
05:28to do right now is interior, because interior, I can take a picture with policemen, I can
05:33show I'm tough on crime, tough on migration.
05:35This will maybe help me with voters.
05:37At the moment, all the other jobs are jobs of austerity.
05:40France, the main challenge of France right now, is to go back in an horizon of three
05:45to five years below 3 percent of GDP of deficit.
05:49This is a very tough job.
05:51This might include new tax, budget cuts for sure.
05:54And I don't think anyone wants to be the face of austerity, except for somebody like Michel
05:59Barnier, who is an old man without too much agenda for his political future, and who has
06:04this reputation in Europe of being someone who can make deals.
06:08A lot of political calculations going on here.
06:12So finally, I want to ask, you know, while we're watching the clock, waiting for news
06:16to come down about the confirmation, do we know what the holdup is, what we're waiting
06:21to happen?
06:24What we're waiting to happen?
06:25Well, at the moment, there is one thing that was added by François Hollande in his previous
06:29presidency, which is a moment of background checks on ministers.
06:32This happened because in the past, some ministers were found to have some big financial or fiscal
06:38problems.
06:39So that's one of the reasons.
06:40And I think there is also another reason, which is, again, this political game, like
06:43who in the centrist is really willing to go and put their name in the hat.
06:48From what I hear, there are some people around the Modem and Horizon, which is the party
06:53of Edouard Philippe, who is another presidential hopeful, who are still waiting to see.
06:58Because in the end, the big surprise of the week was that Michel Barnier, according to
07:02some polls, is the most popular political figure in France at the moment.
07:06So it's not impossible that actually people like him.
07:08And in that case, a lot of people will regret not joining the vote right now.
07:13Economist Renaud Foucault, thank you so much for joining us and breaking down this story
07:16in a very clear way.
07:17I appreciate it.