PARIS: French Prime Minister Michel Barnier on Monday urged his cabinet to "show respect for all our fellow citizens" as his freshly-appointed government went to work, backed by only a minority in parliament. A long wait for the new French government — 11 weeks after a snap election called by President Emmanuel Macron — ended Saturday when the new team was announced, marking a clear shift to the right. In the July vote a bloc of leftist parties, the New Popular Front (NPF) came first, but failed to persuade Macron that they could form a government with any staying power.
Instead, the president turned to veteran conservative Barnier to head up the new government which has the support of Macron allies, some conservatives and centrists in the National Assembly, but no majority — which makes it vulnerable to being toppled in a no-confidence motion. Its critics say that the government lacks legitimacy, failing to reflect the election outcome. Barnier urged his ministers to "show respect for all our fellow citizens and all political parties and listen to everybody".
At a breakfast gathering Monday, he also asked his team to be "beyond reproach and modest" as they take up their portfolios, an official from the prime minister's office told AFP. The 39 ministers should "act first and talk second" to the media or the public, he said. "No bluster, please." Participants were tight-lipped about the afternoon's first full cabinet meeting with President Macron that lasted less than half an hour.
The Elysee Palace encounter went "very well", newly-installed Justice Minister Didier Migaud said. On Sunday evening, Barnier had called for "the greatest possible cohesion" within the government, and for a willingness to find "compromise". The leftist opposition has already said they will bring a no-confidence motion in parliament at an early opportunity, while the far-right National Rally (RN) has also blasted the cabinet lineup. Barnier on Monday countered that his picks made up a "republican, progressive and pro-European" administration.
'Re-establish order'
Left-wing criticism has homed in on the new interior minister, Bruno Retailleau, a social conservative and defender of law-and-order, who has in the past opposed same-sex marriage and the inclusion of the right to abortion in the French constitution.
As he took over Monday from his predecessor Gerald Darmanin, Retailleau said that he would "re-establish order" in France, having previously criticized what he called "laxness" in the outgoing administration concerning security, immigration and the protection of French secularism. "I believe in order, in order as a condition for freedom. When there is no order, freedom is threatened first. I believe in order as a condition for equality," he said.
Meanwhile some unions have bristled at Civil Service Minister Guillaume Kasbarian's vow, on taking office, to "reduce bureaucracy at every level" — taking it as a foretaste of job cuts. Socialist party boss Olivier Faure said Sunday his party's deputies 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 will probably fail" in the absence of support from the far-right National Rally, which has said it will wait before making any move against the government. Politicians and media are speculating about the RN's intentions with three years until France's next scheduled presidential election — at which Macron cannot stand due to term limits.
Overall RN chief Marine Le Pen "could send back this dish so little to her taste by joining the left in a no-confidence vote... but she plans to make the most of her unprecedented power to increase the pressure on the government," center-left daily Le Monde wrote Monday.
Barnier's new foreign minister Jean-Noel Barrot used his takeover ceremony Monday to promise support "every time that fundamental liberties, human rights and minorities are in danger" — giving the examples of Iranian and Afghan women. Barrot also said that "democracy is under attack from all sides" in the world.
France, he said, would defend itself against "all foreign interference, against all hybrid threats", a reference to strategies combining military and non-military means to attack an enemy. — AFP