The Place de la Bastille is not the most common place for demonstrations in Paris these days, but what better location than one of the greatest icons of the French Revolution, where 75 heads rolled on the guillotine, to remind the President of the Republic of that very indigenous fondness of yearning for kings and ending up beheading them. And so, this Saturday afternoon, a large part of the left, united under the acronym of the New Popular Front (NFP), winner of the last legislative elections, took to the streets to demand the dismissal of the head of state. “Macron, dismissal or revolution!” read one of the banners carried by some of the thousands of demonstrators (160,000 according to the organizers) who were preparing to walk the 2.5 kilometers that separate the Place de la Bastille from the Place de la Nation from two in the afternoon.
The demonstration, which was replicated in 150 French towns (according to the organisers), was initially called by Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s La France Insoumise (LFI), a member and spokesperson of the 9th Popular Front coalition, the alliance formed before the elections to counter the rise of Marine Le Pen’s far right. “Democracy is not only the art of accepting having won, it is also the humility of accepting having lost,” he declared, addressing Macron at the Paris march. “I call you to a long-term struggle,” he added, addressing the crowd. The demonstration was joined by its partners, the Communist Party and the Ecologists. But the Socialist Party decided not to take part in the march. Its secretary general, Olivier Faure, attacked Macron in the media and warned that it would not join the government of the new prime minister, the conservative Michel Barnier, appointed on Friday by Macron.
The feeling in France these days is between relief at having a prime minister after 60 days of the elections of July 7, and concern about Macron’s decision to appoint a representative of the right in Matignon. According to a survey by the BFMTV channel, 74% of French people believe that the French president has not respected the result of the legislative elections of July 9. And the worst thing, denounces the left, is that Macron and the Barnier government will now be hostages of Marine Le Pen’s National Rally, whose deputies will be decisive in not being censured in the coming weeks in the National Assembly. “Marine Le Pen is the one who rules right now. Look, it’s very simple: Macron had to choose between Mélenchon and Le Pen, and he chose her. I think everything is clear,” he denounces during a march on the rue Faubourg Saint-Antoine.
At about the same time, Jordan Bardella, the president of the RN and Marine Le Pen’s successor, confirmed this widespread impression on the social network X. “Nothing can be done without our party. Mr Barnier is a prime minister under democratic supervision of a party that is essential to the parliamentary game.” The RN now has 144 parliamentarians (if we count those contributed by the new party of Eric Ciotti, former leader of Les Républiques) and no less than 11 million votes. Without these seats and without the already declared support of the left, Barnier’s government has no chance of survival. An idea that was repeated continuously in the slogans of the demonstration and on the banners and that Barnier himself has internalized: “We respect all parties and we will talk to all of them,” he announced in his first interview, liquidating the cordon sanitaire applied in the last elections by the so-called Republican Front.
The profile of the NFP protester on Saturday was wide and diverse. From a punk and his girlfriend, both wearing the appropriate kit (spiked collar, bulldog and beer) to Martin and Marcel, two political science students discussing the loss of purchasing power of the French middle class with a can of Kronembourg in hand. Gisèle, a 43-year-old mother and high school teacher, was on this occasion instructing her children by teaching them political chants: “Do we want Michel Barnier?” she asked, shouting. “No!” they replied. “Does Macron have to go?” she continued. “Yes!” she replied again aboard her colourful scooters.
The most notable absence from the demonstration was that of the Socialist Party and its leader, Olivier Faure. At the Elysée, people are hoping that the dissenting voices within the party will eventually lead to a movement that will allow it, in the medium term, to gain more support and be able to do without the National Rally. The Socialist leader, in fact, is already facing criticism within his own party from some barons who complain that the NFP has adopted too rigid a position – they have not budged from the proposal of Lucie Castet as prime minister – which has led to a right-wing prime minister.
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Rouen Mayor Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol is in this line of thought, saying on France Info radio this Saturday that “by dint of wanting a pure left, we have a harder right.” Other socialist leaders have also made similar statements in recent days, such as the mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, and the president of the Occitanie region, Carole Delga. “We like Faure’s attitude, but it is not clear whether he will resist the attacks of the old PS. He is missed here today,” lamented the Senegalese Mohamed Diop, one of the demonstrators before starting the march in the Place de la Bastille.
The situation now, however, does not seem likely to change. And all the elements point to a fiery autumn in France. Beyond the protests over Barnier’s appointment, the new head of government will find himself with a pile of backlogs, skyrocketing debt and a deficit (6.2% of gross domestic product in 2025 if urgent measures are not taken) typical of those countries that threatened to break up the eurozone just a few years ago. The outgoing Minister of the Economy, Bruno Lemaire, warned this week that at least 16 billion euros will have to be cut to contain a deficit that has been under threat from the European Commission since last year. The austerity policies that Barnier will have to apply – he has already warned that this will be one of his priorities – will not fit well with the demands of the left and with the improvement of the controversial pension reform that he has promised to undertake to calm the street. “We have lost purchasing power, we will work longer and we will be poorer. “French grandeur has disappeared and it is clear that it will not return by suffocating its citizens,” lamented Jean-Pierre Marceu, a 56-year-old university professor at Saturday’s march.
Barnier himself had to dodge the issue yesterday when, in his first appearance as prime minister, he was asked if he was planning to raise taxes. “The situation is very serious. I am not here to tell people stories, I will tell the truth. We can make progress, but we cannot perform miracles,” he said, implying that the road the French will have to follow in the coming months will not be easy.
The fate of Barnier’s government, currently in the hands of the RN, is closely linked to that of Macron. If the fifth prime minister of his mandate were to fall victim to a vote of no confidence, his permanence in the Elysée could be complicated. The law would not allow legislative elections to be held again until a year after the last one (June 2025), and during that time the government would have to be in office. Perhaps aware of this, Macron has decided to take a step back and cede power in what will be his first cohabitation with a prime minister outside his party and political nature. The presidency of the Republic will withdraw from all inter-ministerial committees, will not influence the appointment of the head of the executive cabinet and the new prime minister will be free to decide the holders of each portfolio without red lines.
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