French President Emmanuel Macron named Michel Barnier, the European Union’s former Brexit negotiator, as his new prime minister on Thursday (5), after weeks of protracted negotiations following an inconclusive snap election.
Barnier, 73, led the EU’s talks with the UK on its exit from the bloc between 2016 and 2021. Before that, the Conservative politician held positions in several French governments and was also an EU Commissioner.
Macron has considered a series of potential prime ministers in recent weeks, none of whom has garnered enough support to secure a stable government, and there is no guarantee that Barnier’s government will be able to push reforms through a hesitant parliament.
But at least the far-right National Rally (RN), whose party is one of the largest in parliament after elections in early July, signalled on Thursday that it would not immediately reject Barnier if he met certain conditions.
Barnier is a staunch pro-European and moderate career politician, but he toughened his stance considerably during his failed 2021 bid to win his conservative party’s ticket for the presidential election, saying immigration was out of control – a view shared by the RN.
Macron’s gamble to call early parliamentary elections in June backfired, with his centrist coalition losing dozens of seats and no party winning an absolute majority.
The left-wing New Popular Front alliance came first, but Macron ruled out asking them to form a government after other parties said they would reject it outright.
Instead, he waited weeks to make his choice.
Even if political paralysis continued despite the appointment of a new government, Macron would not be able to call new elections until July next year.
RN lawmaker Sebastien Chenu told BFM TV the far-right party would wait to see what Barnier has to say on immigration and changing France’s voting system.
RN MP Laurent Jacobelli said the condition was for parliament to be dissolved as soon as possible – which would be early July.
“RN wants a prime minister committed to dissolving the legislature as quickly as possible and establishing proportional representation (for parliamentary elections),” Jacobelli told TF1.
Still, RN was not particularly enthusiastic about Barnier.
“They are taking out of mothballs those who ruled France for 40 years,” Jacobelli said.
This content was originally published in Macron appoints prime minister after weeks of impasse in government formation on the CNN Brasil website.
Source: CNN Brasil
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