After the choice of the Prime Minister, the new headache: who will join the government led by Michel Barnier ?

Michel Barnier, vendredi soir, sur le plateau du 20 H de TF1. AFP POOL – LUDOVIC MARIN/POOL

Le nouveau locataire de Matignon va avoir bien du mal à convaincre des personnalités d’entrer dans un gouvernement de courte durée. La gauche devrait manquer à l’appel.

“The President of the Republic has appointed Mr. Michel Barnier as Prime Minister. He has tasked him with forming a unifying government to serve the country and the French people”. The Élysée press release sent Thursday at around 1:30 p.m. is not insignificant. Emmanuel Macron was keen to highlight the terms of the contract he imposed on his new Prime Minister.

The latter will have to rally beyond his own camp in what seems like an impossible mission. Marine Le Pen's demands will weigh heavily. The LR should not need to be asked twice to come.

A first interview lasting more than an hour took place on Friday between Michel Barnier, Gérard Larcher, Laurent Wauquiez and Bruno Retailleau. They left delighted. Within the Macronist camp, the Matignon tenant should also find many enthusiastic candidates but rather among the liberals of the party.

The deputies of left-wing sensitivity promise to be more wary. Former PS member Gabriel Attal, who was received in the morning, assured that he refused to sign "a blank check" to the new Prime Minister.

"It must be clear"

MP Stella Dupont also explained to our colleagues at Politico:“If Barnier starts by saying “we are eliminating State Medical Aid [as he proposed during the right-wing primary in 2021], it is not possible, it must be clear”.

If the representatives of the social wing of Macronie are so suspicious, it is because they know that the survival of the future government depends on the goodwill of Marine Le Pen and that her demands will carry heavy weight.

But to form the unifying government demanded by the head of state, it is the left that will be missing Michel Barnier. No personality of the New Popular Front should give in to the temptation of accepting a portfolio.

Olivier Faure's opponents are unlikely to be more enthusiastic. Bernard Cazeneuve has made it known through his entourage that he would have refused a position as Minister of State in the new executive. The same goes for Carole Delga: “It is a right-wing government supported by the extreme right that does not correspond to its convictions or to the vote of the French”, one of her close friends told France Info.

A short-term fixed-term contract

Finally, the mayor of Rouen Nicolas Mayeur Rossignol believes that the appointment of Michel Barnier as Prime Minister is “a real scandal”. The adventure is all the less tempting that it could well be short-lived.

If Michel Barnier's government does not fall at the first motion of censure thanks to the neutrality of the National Rally, the debates on the budget will put it in great danger.

Marine Le Pen demanded more purchasing power for the French, but the suspension of VAT on a "hundred basic necessities" defended by the RN seems to be in total contradiction with the imperative of returning to a balanced budget defended by the right and the majority.

Second-knives ?

But above all, the far right will submit a text on October 31 aimed at repealing the pension reform that Emmanuel Macron holds dearer than anything. The RN's support could therefore be brief. There will therefore be few figures from both the right and the left who will want to commit to such a short-term fixed-term contract.

Will a David Lisnard or a Bruno Retailleau agree to leave their positions to join a government that risks falling after the first text?? Not so sure. The risk for Michel Barnier is that he will only succeed in surrounding himself with second-rate people.

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