PARIS: France’s new premier said he hoped to finalise a long-awaited government soon, as President Emmanuel Ma­c­­ron weighed a line-up that marks a shift to the right.

The full line-up, which includes fresh faces in almost all key posts, is due after “final fine-tuning”, Prime Minister Michel Barnier’s office said, after over two months of deadlock created by inconclusive legislative elections.

While there appeared to be no major surprises or big-name entrants into the cabinet, there are set to be new foreign, economy and interior ministers, with only the defence minister remaining unchanged among the key offices of state.

Barnier has proposed Europe Minister Jean-Noel Barrot as foreign minister, a source close to Macron’s political faction said. The move would be a major promotion for the 41-year-old, whose slick media appearances have impr­e­ssed observers, but boosting France’s presence on the international stage could pose a challenge.

Bruno Retailleau, who heads the faction of the right-wing The Republ­icans (LR) in France’s upper house, is to take on the interior ministry, according to several sources.

And another meteoric rise will likely see Antoine Armand, the 33-year-old head of parliament’s economic affairs commission, installed as economy minister.

One key person said to be staying on is Defence Minister Sebastien Leco­rnu, who is believed to enjoy a close and trusting relationship with Macron.

Tense lunch

Barnier was at the Elysee Palace late on Thursday to discuss the nominations with Emmanuel Macron.

The president could seek to veto the prime minister’s proposals, but doing so would cause immense tensions with his Barnier at this stage.

Sources added that names still need to be vetted to ensure they have no conflict of interest before entering government, as is customary.

But Macron “will not censor any name”, said a source close to him.

Among the more junior positions, a last-minute controversy arose over the proposed appointment of Senator Laurence Garnier as family minister. The senator is a member of Michel Barnier’s LR party.

Macron’s centrist allies strongly protested her nomination to the family brief, with Garnier having opposed both gay marriage and the inscription of the right to abortion in the constitution.

There had been tensions between centrist Macron and Barnier over the balance of the government, notably at a lunch earlier this week that was far from cordial.

The Le Monde daily said that Barnier had even raised the possibility of resigning just days into the job. The tensions were then resolved on Thursday.

‘Very serious’

Politics in France has been deadlocked since the June-July snap legislative elections left it with a hung parliament.

Prime Minister Barnier, the European Union’s former top Brexit negotiator and a right-winger, was appointed earlier this month by Macron in an attempt to breach the impasse.

Key posts were vacant, with Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire stepping down after occupying his post since Macron came to power in 2017, and Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne tapped by Macron to be France’s new EU commissioner.

However, there seems to be no place in the cabinet for the ambitious Gerald Darmanin, interior minister since 2020, who has reportedly long coveted the job of foreign minister.

The 73-year-old Barnier has already faced a raft of challenges since taking office.

He warned on Wednesday that France’s budgetary situation, which has seen Paris placed on a formal procedure for violating EU budgetary rules, was “very serious”.

Macron had hoped to reassert his relative majority in parliament by calling for the elections in late June and early July, but the plan backfired.

A left-wing alliance, which nabbed the most seats in the lower house but does not have a working majority, is outraged at the prospect of a right-wing government.

On Saturday, the hard-left France Unbowed party (LFI) and allies joined demonstrations organised in several cities by student, environmental and feminist groups against Macron and Barnier.

The LFI hopes to “increase popular pressure”, leading party figure Mathilde Panot said, after more than 100,000 left-wing demonstrators protested Barnier’s nomination and Macron’s “power grab” earlier this month.

Published in Dawn, September 22nd, 2024