As Macron appoints his fourth Prime Minister in a year, Andrew Coates explores the background to the deadlock and the challenges facing the left.
With three months in power Michel Barnier, French Prime Minister, outlasted Liz Truss’s 45 days of office. Appointed by President Macron to replace Gabriel Attal, a member of the head of state’s Renaissance Party, the member of the centre right Les Républicains presided over a minority government, supported by MPs (from the classical right and Macronists) holding 212 out of 577 seats.
For some in the British media Barnier is recalled as the European Commission’s chief Brexit negotiator. For many on the French left he is known for his right-wing policies, having appointed as Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau who has called for “less immigration, more security”.
Amongst other figure were Guillaume Kasbarian, the (unwieldly-sounding) Ministre de la Fonction Publique, de la Simplification et de la Transformation de l’Action Publique (Minister of Civil Service, Streamlining and Public Sector Transformation). A member of Macron’s Parliamentary group, Ensemble pour la République, Kasbarien recently welcomed Elon Musk’s plans to tackle ‘bureaucracy’.
There was also Higher Education and Research Minister Patrick Hetzel, of the ‘Republican Right’, who is an enthusiast for ‘alternative medicine’ and has questioned vaccination. In October 2024 Hetzel took part in an event organised by the far right student union, UNI.
These figures confirm that, as widely reported, Barnier was chosen to chosen to be acceptable to parties from the centre, the right and the far right. On 9th October, the Barnier government survived a no-confidence vote brought by the left bloc, the Nouveau Front Populaire, (NFP) which fell 92 votes short of the 289 needed. The far right Rassemblement National (RN) supported the government by not voting for the motion.
This Wednesday the RN voted for a motion of no-confidence proposed by the NFP. It passed 331 to 244. The immediate cause was the finance bill, which was based on an austerity budget. On Monday Barnier had forced through Social Security measures using the constitutional provision of 49.3, designed under the 5th Republic to avoid political deadlock over legislation.
After this result, the largest bloc in the National Assembly, the Nouveau Front Populaire with 193 seats, believes it should govern, though it is far from a majority in the lower house, 577 MPs in all. Macron-backers, such as former PM Gabriel Attal, have, Le Monde reports on 5th December, turned away from the classic right and tried to negotiate with the Socialist Party wing of the NFP. But, “’Mr. Attal must have the lucidity to consider that Macronism has been defeated,’ replied Boris Vallaud, the president of the Socialist group in the Assembly.”
The left faces some challenges maintaining unity. Raphaël Glucksmann, an MEP close to the Socialists who has his own micro-party Place Publique and some allies , have called for a ‘minimum platform’, an agreement between parties that supported the ‘republican front’ (that is composed of many Macron-favourable centrists and some moderate right-wingers) against Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella’s RN during the Parliamentary elections. Chaos, they warn, threatens. (Le Monde. 5th December)
Strikes and protests in the public sector will take place from Thursday over austerity measures already passed by the Barnier government.
Macron has two years left of his Presidential term. Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the leader of La France Insoumise, by far the largest left force in the National Assembly, though not himself an MP in Parliament, suggests that he will not last the course.
Meanwhile, France’s Socialists have signaled they are ready to hold talks with President Emmanuel Macron over the formation of a new government. Socialist Party leader Olivier Faure told French media today that the party was prepared to play a part in breaking the country’s political deadlock.
Andrew Coates is a European socialist internationalist who lives in East Anglia. He blogs here.
mage: https://www.flickr.com/photos/european_parliament/48753411836 Creator: Gabor Kovacs Licence: Attribution 2.0 Generic CC BY 2.0 Deed
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