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Barnier promises compromise from France's embattled new govt

POLITICS 22.09.2024

Barnier promises compromise from France's embattled new govt / Photo: © POOL/AFP

French Prime Minister Michel Barnier promised cohesion and a willingness to compromise Sunday, a day after his new government was announced to immediate threats of a no-confidence motion in parliament.

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Barnier, who heads up a government condemned by its critics as too far to the right, promised in a television interview to move fast to tackle the country's most pressing problems.

Under intense pressure to fix France's fragile financial position, he said a "national effort" would be required.

High earners would have to "do their bit" to help, he said, but there would be no income-tax increases for "people with low incomes, or wage earners, or the middle-income class".

The long wait for the new government -- 11 weeks after a snap election called by President Emmanuel Macron -- ended Saturday when the new team was announced. It marks a clear shift to the right.

Its left-wing opponents say they will challenge Barnier's government with a no-confidence motion as early as next month. Far-right politicians also criticised the composition of the new government.

In the July election, a left-wing alliance called the New Popular Front won the most parliamentary seats of any political bloc, but not enough for an overall majority.

Veteran far-right leader Marine Le Pen's National Rally emerged as the single largest party in the National Assembly.

Macron argued that the left was unable to muster enough support to form a government that would not immediately be brought down in parliament.

He also rejected a National Rally candidate because of the party's extremist legacy.

- 'Greatest possible cohesion' -

He turned instead to conservative veteran Barnier to lead a government drawing on parliamentary support mostly from Macron's allies.

Some conservative Republicans and centrist groups have also joined the administration.

In a TV appearance Sunday evening, Barnier called for "the greatest possible cohesion" within the government, and for a willingness to find "compromise".

But far-left leader Jean-Luc Melenchon has dismissed the new lineup as "a government of the general election losers", saying France should get rid of it "as soon as possible".

Thousands of people took to the streets of Paris and other French cities Saturday in a left-wing protest to denounce what they called a denial of July's election results.

Socialist Party chairman Olivier Faure called Barnier's cabinet the "most right-wing government of the Fifth Republic".

Macron had been counting on a neutral stance from the far right, but National Rally leader Jordan Bardella said the new government had "no future whatsoever".

While Macron's allies had to relinquish some key ministries, they still got 12 portfolios out of the total 39.

"This is not a new government, it's a reshuffle," quipped Communist party leader Fabien Roussel.

- 'Painful measures' -

France's former president Francois Hollande, a Socialist, said the new government would inflict "painful measures on our fellow citizens".

A no-confidence motion was "a good solution", he said.

That would require an absolute majority in parliament, but if passed, the government would have to step down immediately.

Faure said the Socialists were planning to bring a no-confidence vote on October 1 after Barnier's general policy speech to parliament scheduled for that day.

But he acknowledged that it would probably fail in the absence of support from the National Rally.

Le Pen has said they will wait for the new government to set out its policies before deciding what to do.

The first major test for Barnier will be to submit a 2025 budget plan addressing France's precarious financial situation, which he called "very serious".

Barnier, elaborating on his plan for taxes targeting the rich, said on Sunday that they had to do their bit. He argued for "targeted levies on rich people or certain large companies".

France has been placed on a formal procedure for violating European Union budgetary rules and needs to show it is making a serious effort at financial recovery.

The difficult job of submitting a budget plan to parliament next month falls to 33-year-old Antoine Armand, the new finance minister, and Budget Minister Laurent de Saint-Martin who has already said that "strong choices" would have to be made.