Monday, September 9, 2024, 8:19 p.m.
Former French President François Hollande confirmed on Monday that the Socialist Party (PS) is completely opposed to the future government of the conservative Michel Barnier, 73 years old. “It is a right-wing government, with a right-wing policy and which will be supported by the extreme right. How do they expect left-wing men and women to participate in it?” asked the head of state between 2012 and 2017 rhetorically. In the same radio interview for France Inter, the most listened to station in the neighbouring country, Hollande confirmed that he will vote for the motion of censure that will be presented, probably in October, by the unitary coalition of the left of the New Popular Front (NFP).
After fifty days of interim government – a record in France – President Emmanuel Macron appointed the former European Brexit negotiator as head of the executive on Thursday. The appointment of a historic leader of the traditional right of the Republicans (LR) outraged the various parties of the Popular Front, made up of France Insoumise (affiliated with Sumar or Podemos), the PS, the Greens and the Communists.
On the one hand, Barnier is ideologically far removed from the progressive alliance, which narrowly won the legislative elections on July 7 with 193 seats (out of a total of 577). The new prime minister has been a member of a party since he was a teenager, which came fourth and only won 47 seats.
“Macron did not act as he should have in a parliamentary democracy. It was not his place to participate in the discussions with the other parties,” Hollande criticised. The Socialist leader believes that his successor at the Elysée should have made a more formal choice, that is, appoint a leader of the NFP and let the Assembly decide whether to continue or censure him.
Hollande also criticised the head of state for ensuring that the far-right National Rally (RN) would not immediately censure the prime minister. “It was Marine Le Pen who gave the go-ahead for Barnier’s appointment,” said the former president. In France, the vote of confidence is not obligatory. The stability of the executive in the face of a very fragmented National Assembly will depend on the votes of no confidence, which could lead to unnatural alliances between the left and the extreme right.
«A provisional resource»
After an election marked by a cordon sanitaire of the majority of voters to the far right, Macron gave the keys to the government to a leader of LR, the party that maintained a more ambiguous position with regard to this “republican front”. This decision pushed the left into frontal opposition and left Le Pen in a comfortable position of referee. Since then, the RN has revelled in its ambiguity with regard to the premier. “Barnier is a stopgap,” said the far-right leader on Sunday. During her return to office in her northern stronghold of Hénin-Beaumont, she warned that she would press the red button of censure “if the French are once again forgotten and mistreated.”
The Macronists blame the centre-left for this poisoned scenario, which does not want to form a government with them and the Republican right. This option, however, is not in the interest of the Socialists or the Greens, because they would be in the minority in this “grand coalition” and would probably have to support policies unpopular with their voters.
The various factions of the PS, despite their strong divisions and the fact that their next congress next year is expected to be heated, are therefore united in their frontal opposition to Barnier. Although the prime minister wants to incorporate some centre-left leaders into his government team, he will have a hard time finding them. The first names of the ministers are not expected to be known until the end of this week or next week.
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